Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Former lead guitarist for hard rock super group KISS, best known for his "space ace" character, on stage stagger, cackling laugh and smoking guitar effects. Frehley was born Paul Daniel Frehley on April 27th, 1951 in The Bronx, New York City and received his first electric guitar at age 14. A creative and gifted teenager, he counts The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin as early influences on his musical tastes.



Frehley answered a newspaper ad in early 1973 for a then-unnamed group seeking a lead guitarist with "flash and balls", and successfully auditioned in front of bassist Gene Simmons and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley, to become the fourth member of what would become KISS. Soon after, the group was joined by drummer Peter Criss and the four set about launching themselves. After mediocre success from their first three albums, "Kiss Alive" (a double live album) was released in 1975, and the rocket ride had begun! Kiss were very successful from 1975 until 1979, however, cracks appeared in the band and Peter Criss left the group in 1980, followed by Frehley in 1982.



Frehley put together his own band ("Frehleys Comet") and they regularly toured the New York City club circuit and released several albums, predominantly purchased by KISS fans still loyal to Ace! However, after several years of icy relations between ex-members Frehley / Criss and band founders Simmons / Stanley, all four original members reunited for a 1995 MTV Unplugged Special that was met with huge interest. This prompted a full-blown reunion tour (Kiss - Alive Worldwide) that was the biggest grossing tour of 1996/97!! Met with such keen enthusiasm from fans, the band toured relentlessly into the new century, however, Peter Criss was not satisfied with his salary, and was replaced by drummer Eric Singer, in 2001. Frehley stuck around another year or so, however, the old issues of Ace's unreliability caught up with him once again, and he once more exited the band, to be replaced by Tommy Thayer.



Most recently, Ace had a small part in the gangster film Remedy (2005).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: firehouse44@hotmail.com

Spouse (1)

Jeanette Trerotola (10 May 1976 - ?) ( divorced) ( 1 child)

Trade Mark (4)

Gibson Les Paul



Known for his Spaceman makeup



Smoking guitar



Maniacal super-villain laugh



Trivia (24)

Daughter: Monique





A member of the hard rock band, KISS

Parents: Karl and Esther.



Father Karl was an electrical engineer, mother Esther a homemaker.



Is the youngest of 3 children. Has a brother, Charles, and a sister,





Lead guitarist for KISS 1973-1983 and 1995-2002. Is divorced from wife Jeanette.



When Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley heard Ace's audition for KISS and decided to make him the lead guitarist, they asked him what his name was. When he said his name was Paul Frehley, they told him that the band couldn't have two Paul's. Frehley then told them to call him "Ace Frehley". The nickname "Ace" comes from his school days, when he displayed an uncanny ability to get his friends dates.



Is "Space Ace" in the Hard Rock band, KISS

Daughter, Monique, was born July 9, 1980.



Is a self-taught guitarist, started playing at age 13.



Older sister's name is Nancy.





According to Gene Simmons ' autobiography, "Kiss and Make-Up", the lightning bolt guitar strap that's used by so many in the music design is actually Frehley's design. He is considered to be a very gifted graphic designer.

Previous bands: Molimo, the Muff Drivers and Frehley's Comet.



Has an IQ of 164.





His face is on the cover of the KISS album, "creatures of the night", even though Vinnie Vincent played all the songs on the album. KISS begged Ace to put his face on the cover because he wasn't officially gone and they weren't sure about Vinnie being a permanent replacement.



Is the designer of the famous KISS logo.



Was opposed to recording KISS ' sixteenth album, "Music From The Elder". However, he was out-voted two to one by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley , and, subsequently, was obligated to participate. Also, insisted to have the 24-track tapes mailed to his home to cut his parts. Finally, his solos were cut out of the final recordings, and did not participate completely on their seventeenth album, "Creatures of the Night", and replaced by Vincent Cusano ( Vinnie Vincent ).

Early on when learning to play guitar, he experimented with guitars that had whammy bars. Eventually, he discarded them when he found that whammy bars weren't his style.



Said in a 2008 interview that he is now clean and sober and has finally learned, that he is actually a better musician when not drunk and on drugs and that he regrets not learning this sooner.





KISS was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Even though he went by the nickname Ace to distinguish himself from Paul Stanley,Frehley is the only original KISS member to perform under his legal birth name.The other three either shortened their legal names or changed their names entirely.



He dropped out of high school when his band started getting paying gigs.



He was replaced by Tommy Thayer, who was in a KISS tribute band as "The Space Ace" called "Cold Gin", which was a KISS hit song. Frehley's long history of drug use had affected his guitar-playing abilities and stage persona, which led to him being removed in the first place. Thayer had to teach Frehley all his songs back as he not only forgot them--he has gone on record saying he no longer remembers decades of his own life.



He admits he punched Tommy Thayer over backstage rules made by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (which Ace charges that Gene and Paul regularly broke themselves).



Personal Quotes (23)



I remember taking the cassette and smashing it against a wall" - to Guitar World magazine in 1993, describing his negative response to the 1981 KISS album, "Music From the Elder.

I eat, sleep, and drink my character. It is my fantasy to go to another planet. By the time I'm 40, interplanetary travel will be common. Nobody will want to talk to me at that age, anyway.





That's not my idea of what KISS is. Maybe that's his idea. You know, they say things like that just to cover their asses, so that they can carry on and still say it's KISS. That's all that is: smoke. [when asked if he agrees with Paul Stanley about the idea of KISS continuing without any of the original members].

I knew I was destined to do a solo album, but when I did that first album in 1978, I had no idea it was going to be that well received.



I can't even read notes. But I can teach someone how to make a guitar smoke.



I believe that the only way that the human race is gonna survive is to start colonizing space and setting up colonies on the moon, and then space stations.



Every time Paul and Gene use my makeup, they have to pay me a royalty check. I think they changed the makeup so they didn't have to pay me.



[on Tommy Thayer replacing him as the "Space Ace" in KISS]: They can put Tommy Thayer in make-up, I don't give a fuck. But I don't think he can sing... or do the moves like me.



Anybody who says anything bad about me is foolish, because a lot of people like me. You're gonna make enemies when you put down Ace Frehley. And that's because I'm a straight shooter - I tell it like it is.





[on Tommy Thayer , who replaced him in KISS ] I could sense he always wanted to be me - he used to be in a KISS cover band. He didn't do anything; he was hired by Paul [ Paul Stanley ] and Gene [ Gene Simmons ] to put on my makeup and costume and play my guitar solos - a business deal. Look, if he wouldn't have done it, they would have hired somebody else. I walked out on the band; I quit. What they really should have done is, if they wanted to dress up a guy to play lead guitar, they should have come up with different makeup like they did with Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent



[on KISS ] We started out as this heavy, mean, nasty rock 'n' roll group wearing leather and it turned into a goddamn circus.



[on Paul Stanley ] Now he's trying to take credit for the fucking KISS logo? Unbelievable. I designed the logo - all he did was draw straighter lines. And you know, I told Paul to wear the star on his eye. Do you know what his makeup was before he put the star on his eye? It was a round circle. He looked like the dog from The Little Rascals (1955) [ Pete the Dog ]. It told him it looked kinda silly and that he should put one star on his eye. But do I go around taking credit for that? No. I let him say he designed it. Who cares, you know? Let's not be petty.



[2014, on Paul Stanley ] Paul's cranky because he can't call me a drunk or a drug addict anymore. He can't say I'm unemployable. He can't say I don't show up, because I do these days. So now he's grasping at straws just to grab headlines for his goddamn book.





Paul has been so goddamn cranky lately. I mean, what's wrong, Paul, aren't you happy? I know they must be frustrated because people are always writing about how Ace was the real guy or Ace was the real deal. It's gotta rub them the wrong way. They would like nothing more than for me to start drinking again, start taking drugs again and end up as a bum on skid row. But that's not gonna happen.

[on Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley publicly badmouthing him] I think they're just cranky. For years, when I was fucked up, Gene used to say that I was a drunk and a drug addict and that I was unemployable. Kick a guy when he's down, right? But they can't do that anymore, so it's like they're scratching their heads trying to come up with new ways to insult me. The most recent thing was that I'm anti-Semitic, that I'm a fucking Nazi. That's just below the belt. Next I'll be a member of the Ku Klux Klan. And my fiancée is Jewish! My whole life I've worked with Jewish people in all different capacities - my accountants, my attorneys, people on the road. Jesus Christ, I can't believe the stuff that comes out of their mouths. But the truth is that I don't want to be negative. I just want to keep everything light and be happy.Paul has been so goddamn cranky lately. I mean, what's wrong, Paul, aren't you happy? I know they must be frustrated because people are always writing about how Ace was the real guy or Ace was the real deal. It's gotta rub them the wrong way. They would like nothing more than for me to start drinking again, start taking drugs again and end up as a bum on skid row. But that's not gonna happen.

I was growing up in the Bronx, you know, being in a gang and getting in trouble with the police. A lot of crazy shit went down. Luckily, I got out of it unscarred. When I started playing in bands, it got me away from that negative element. And it did save my life.





KISS fans are weird - everybody knows it. These days I have to be transparent, you know? There's nothing I'm gonna say that's gonna shock anybody. So, yeah, a lot of KISS fans are kinda strange. But that's okay because *we're* strange.



I still got the chops. I definitely blow [current KISS guitarist] Tommy Thayer off the stage.



[on Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer , who replaced him and Peter Criss in KISS ] They're not contributing anything original to the band. They're just copying stuff that Peter and me did during the first ten years of the group. So they're just actors, basically.

When I look back at all the mistakes I've made, I feel I had to get through those mistakes to get where I am today. That's why I don't have any regrets.



[2014] I haven't had the urge to drink in a long time. And I don't miss the hangovers, I don't miss the smells, the late nights at the bars, or the people. I was hanging out with some pretty shady people in my heavy-drinking-and-coke years. I was in some situations that really could have gone sideways. I was just lucky. And you have to realize that my fans used to emulate my behavior when I was a crazy man - "Ace is a party animal, let's go get loaded!". Then they'd go crash their car, and I'd feel terrible.





[2014, on Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley ] These guys just come off so cranky. I mean, you've got millions and millions of dollars, you live in a big house, you're a huge rock star, people all around the world think you're great. What do you have to put people down for? Paul and Gene are way too uptight, and it's making them look bad.



[on Paul Stanley 's memoir, "Face the Music: A Life Exposed"] I haven't read it, but I'm sure he threw me under the bus in one way or another. Although I heard he threw Gene [ Gene Simmons ] under the bus more than anyone.