Gene Simmons, musician of the legendary band Kiss

In the distant 70's, in the heyday of rock culture, in America began his career, Gene Simmons, a musician, who now knows everyone. He became famous not only for being a co-founder of the legendary band Kiss and excellent playing the bass guitar, but also with his eccentric appearance. The image of the demon, which Simmons regularly demonstrated on the stage, became a real rock icon of those years. Now, such a shock is a rare phenomenon, a highlight of a distant era that will forever remain in the hearts of fans of heavy music.

Early years in Israel and moving to America

Gene Simmons was not a native of America. The future rock musician was born in the Israeli town of Tirat-Carmel on August 25, 1949. Then he had a different name - Chaim Vitz. He grew up in an incomplete family. His parents, Florence Klein and Feri Vic, divorced when he was still a child.

Life in Israel was full of hardship and want, and at the age of eight Haim, together with his mother, left the country to find his second homeland - the US - overseas. In New York, he was waiting for a new life and a new name - Eugene Klein. However, it was not fixed for him forever. In his time as bass guitarist, Kiss, Eugene changed his name to a more euphoric scene - Gene Simmons.

In America, he had to overcome many difficulties, and first of all the language barrier. Simmons knew Hungarian and Hebrew, but not English. His Gin studied, spending whole days in a Jewish school, where his mother gave it to protect from trouble, while she worked hard to earn money for the maintenance of the family.

The first creative ideas and their embodiment

A year later, Gene mastered the language and entered a regular American school. In those years, he opened a wonderful world of comic books. The stories in the pictures about Superman and Batman captivated the imagination of the future frontman of the band Kiss and had a significant impact on the formation of the creative component of his personality, and later on the stage image.

Simmons even published his own comics Cosmos, drawn by hand and reproduced on a mimeograph. They caused real enthusiasm for Gina's classmates, but were not suitable for sale. However, Simmons could earn on his hobby in a different way. He searched for used comics and resell them, if it was profitable.

Why did Gene Simmons decide to become a rich and famous bass player?

The future musician in the youth engaged in those activities that could bring money. Seeing how hard Florence worked, Simmons tried to help his mother: he worked part time in a butcher's shop and carried newspapers. It was then that he decided that he would make a fortune and become famous.

At the age of 14 he found his true vocation, which gave him wealth, success and glory. In February 1964, he first saw the Beatles concert. Right before the future legend of the rock scene, four young ladies from Liverpool created genius music that struck Simmons and forced her to do her own creative work.

Gene already knew how to play the guitar. However, since that day, his attitude towards music has become serious. At the beginning of his career Simmons changed not one group. He played in both Lynx and The Long Island Sounds. It was then that he decided to abandon the usual guitar. After all, everything is played on it. Jean preferred bass to her, which immediately highlighted him from the general mass of musicians.

How did the band Kiss appear?

After leaving Lynx first, then The Long Island Sounds, Simmons joined Bullfrog Bheer. The band recorded the song Leeta, which years later entered into one of the collections of Kiss. And in the early 70's Simmons met Stanley Eisen (Paul Stanley). Together they created the first serious project - Wicked Lester.

After gathering a fairly strong team, the musicians recorded their first and, as it turned out, the last album. The company Epic Record, with which they cooperated, systematically postponed the signing of the contract. As a result, her vice-president did not like the material recorded by the group. The album was never released, which was a huge blow for the musicians. However, failure is not an excuse to give up, as Gene Simmons decided. The group, which he set out to create in conjunction with Paul Stanley, was to become a qualitatively new project with a catchy image and more aggressive music.

It was called Kiss. In its composition, in addition to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, included Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Together they created a unique image of the group. In many respects it was influenced by the evocative appearance of the shock rocker of the 70's by Alice Cooper, horror films and comic books that all members of Kiss raved about. Not only ordinary New York guys came to the stage, but the "Cat Man", "Star Child", "Space Ace" and "Demon". Musicians have not lost. Outrageous costumes, evocative make-up, spectacular shows combined with atmospheric aggressive music have made them the favorites of the world.

The legendary image of the demon

Especially recognizable was the image of the demon that Jean Simmons chose for himself. The growth of the musician, which was 1.88 m, was simply "cosmic". After all, he wore boots-boots at a horrendously high heel. In the classical version they were covered with silvery scales, and capes were crowned with dragon heads with fiery eyes. In addition to them, the legendary bass player wore a massive armored breastplate and studded shoulder pads. On the back of Jin were leather wings, like a bat. On his face, he applied black and white make-up. Complemented the image of a demon guitar in the form of an ace of spades or an ax.

Painted in blue-black hair the musician tied up in a bun on the top of his head. It was a kind of precaution, which was observed at all concerts by Gene Simmons. During the performances of the band, the musician had to perform the "Fire Breath" trick, which did not end well in the best way. At one of the concerts Simmons, spewing the pillars of fire, set fire to his hair. He had time to put out, but the guitarist's hair has since begun to be protected.

In addition to the tricks of fire, Jin took off on ropes and spitting blood. Of course, it was not real and consisted of juices with yoghurts mixed with food colors, but the show looked realistic.

However, not only the bloody antics remember the fans of Gene Simmons. The musician's language, which reached a length of 12.7 cm, became an indispensable attribute of concerts. Simmons regularly showed it at the performances. And journalists, looking at this "anomaly," came up with a bike that he had transplanted his cow's tongue to look more shockingly. The bass player had to publicly refute the insane rumors about his person.

What did Gene Simmons tell about in his book "Kiss: the demon takes the mask off"?

Behind Gene Simmons, the fame of the hero-lover and sex addict is also fixed. However, he never refuted, on the contrary, strongly supported this idea. His passion for women Simmons devoted a lot of pages of the book "Kiss: the demon takes off the mask" (2013), in which he talked about the difficult everyday life of a rock musician. The bass player clearly indicated in his work the number of his short-term novels - 4,600, than he shocked the fans. Simmons captured his girlfriends on Polaroid, and his famous collection of photographs was once stolen from a certain room in the hotel where the musician settled.

In addition to excessive enthusiasm for women, Simmons led a completely decent lifestyle. The musician claimed that he never suffered from typical "sins" of all rock stars: he did not get drunk to unconsciousness, did not smoke, did not use drugs. All bad habits, as jokes in the press, drove out the girls.

In the book "Kiss: the demon takes off the mask," Jin described not only his intrigues, but also the relationships within the Kiss group. They turned out to be full of conflicts and problems. In each chapter, Simmons rebuked Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, who every now and then left the group. I paid attention to the bass player and myself. His own person, as it turned out, was at times the main source of inspiration for Simmons. At the same time he defined Gene and the place of Kiss in the modern rock hierarchy - the second after The Beatles, and nothing else.

Extraordinary work of bass guitarist of the band Kiss

The scandalous audacious image created by the bass player fully reflects what the creator-experimenter was Gene Simmons. The musician (pictured below) became a real generator of ideas and creative leader of Kiss. Compositions created by Simmons, although they fit the format of the group, always stood out against the general background. The best of his work is characterized by the hits Going blind and Almost human.

And when the famous quadruple released one solo album, Simmons' work was recognized as the most intellectual and versatile, and it's no wonder. After all, in music he recognized all styles: from jazz to modern alternatives. Thus, Simmons' cover version of the song "When You Wanna Upon a Star" from the Disney cartoon film "Pinocchio" came into the album, which expressed its vital position: "Dreams are wonderful, because they come true."

Third-party projects and career in film

The Kiss group could not become the only field of activity for such a versatile person as Gene Simmons. The musician was actively engaged in all sorts of business projects, and also acted in film.

His acting career began in the 80's, when the members of Kiss were forced to remove the mask because of the rapid decline in the popularity of the band. The star of Hollywood Simmons did not, but there are some notable roles in his filmography. So, in the film "To Get Alive or Dead" he was transformed from a rock star into an Arab terrorist who organized several bloody explosions in Los Angeles.

In addition to participating in all kinds of film productions, Gene Simmons was involved in the production of novice rock bands, led the show. Romance, created the series Rock School and its own reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels, released coffins with the Kiss logo for the storage of soft drinks, and a magazine for men Gene Simmons' Tongue.

Perhaps, the famous bass player did not achieve enchanting success in his far from musical activities, but without them he could not do without due to the peculiarities of his personality, eternally striving for everything new. Once, even before the loud success of Kiss, he even worked as a teacher in school. Undoubtedly, Simmons could not become an ordinary pedagogue. In the lessons, he used comic books about Spiderman and played The Beatles songs, which shocked the entire teaching staff.

Family life

Rock musician, in principle, has never supported the generally accepted standards. He also spoke against the institution of marriage. Gene Simmons built a happy relationship with Canadian actress and photo model Shannon Tweed and raised two children (Sophie and Nicholas) outside the state form of relationship design. However, Simmons changed his principles and married his chosen one in 2011, and the most significant event was presented to the public as part of his reality show.

It is worth noting that the happy family life and numerous business projects did not force the musician to disregard the main business of his life. Whatever activity Gene Simmons does, Kiss does not forget. The composition of the group changed many times, loud success was left behind, but this does not prevent the legendary bass player and his partner Paul Stanley to create music more than forty years after the founding of Kiss.