Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel) is the performer and entertainment mogul best known as "The Demon", his blood-spitting, fire-breathing, tongue-wagging personality in the rock band KISS. He plays bass guitar and does vocals. Simmons currently lives in Beverly Hills, California with his longtime partner Shannon Tweed (the two oppose getting married, therefore she is not his wife) and their two children, Nicholas and Sophie.

Biography

Born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel, Simmons immigrated to New York City in 1957 with his mother — a Hungarian immigrant and the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust — after his father, Feri Witz, abandoned his family. After immigrating to the US, he took the name Gene Klein (Klein having been his mother's maiden name). In the late 1960s, he changed his name again, this time to Gene Simmons, as he felt that "Gene Klein" did not have enough of a ring to it. Gene was heavily influenced by the books, magazines, and comics he read and the movies he saw as a child and later incorporated elements from these influences into his "Demon" character, costume, and gestures on stage. He has cited Lon Chaney Sr. as one of his favorite actors.

Simmons became involved with his first band, Lynx, then renamed The Missing Links when he was a teenager. As time went on he disbanded The Missing Links to form the Long Island Sounds. While he played in these bands he kept up odd jobs on the side to make more money including making fanzines and buying used comic books. Gene then attended Sullivan County Community College in Fallsburg, New York. He then joined a new band Bullfrog Bheer, the band made a demo, "Leeta", which was eventually released on the KISS box set in demo form.

Simmons formed the rock band Wicked Lester in the early 1970s with Stanley Eisen (also known as Paul Stanley) and recorded one album, which was never released. Dissatisfied with Wicked Lester's sound and look, Simmons and Stanley went looking for other musicians and eventually joined up with drummer Peter Criscuola and lead guitarist Paul Frehley — who would become Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, respectively. When Simmons and Stanley's attempts to fire their old band members met with resistance, they simply quit Wicked Lester, walking away from their record deal with Epic Records. They formed a new band with Criss and Frehley, which they soon dubbed KISS. KISS released their first self-titled debut album in February of 1974 and have continued to perform to this present day, with Simmons as lead performer on stage and the driving force behind the extensive KISS merchandising franchise.

He has two children with Shannon Tweed - a son, Nicholas (b. 22 Jan 1989), and a daughter, Sophie (b. 7 Jul 1992).

Film

Simmons is also a movie producer and actor who has appeared in a number of movies including Runaway, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Trick Or Treat, Red Surf, Detroit Rock City, and a small role in The New Guy. Gene has claimed his decision into first going into acting was a problem for KISS members, more so for Paul Stanley since most of the KISS tasks fell into his lap in the early 80's when Gene was first bit by the acting bug.

Television

Simmons has been the creative force behind such television projects as:

• My Dad The Rock Star, a cartoon by the Canadian animation company Nelvana, about the mild mannered son of a Gene Simmons-like rock star.

• Mr. Romance, a show created and hosted by Simmons on the Oxygen cable television channel.

• Rock School, a reality show in which Gene tries to make a rock band out of a group of children trained in classical music in the first season, and in the second, a group of kids from a 'tough' comprehensive school.

• Gene Simmons Family Jewels, another reality show for A&E which debuted on August 7, 2006. The premise is essentially the same as The Osbournes, with cameras following Simmons and his family around to document their home life.

File:Genesimmons.png

Gene Simmons in a scene from the TV-series Rock School.

• Gene and the rest of the kiss band appear in an episode of action league now as toy versions of them selves and preform the song "I wanna rock and roll all night "

• Simmons has also appeared on three episodes of Family Guy as himself. In the one episode, Peter takes Lois to Kiss Stock and it was revealed that Gene Simmons had slept with Lois Griffin (also known as "Loose Lois") when he was still known as Chaim Witz. In another, he is shown starring with the other members of KISS in a cheesy Christmas special called KISS Saves Santa. In his (to date) final appearance on Family Guy, Simmons performs oral sex (off-camera) on Lois while standing just inside the Griffin's garage, an exaggeration of his trademark tongue length (several feet long in the episode).

• Simmons has made guest appearances on TV shows such as Miami Vice, Mind of Mencia, Third Watch, That 70's Show and others.

• Simmons also appeared in the pilot for the TV movie "Sable", which also starred Rene Russo, but never aired, as Simmons could not continue with the show. It went to another actor for 6 episodes then never returned. Simmons tried to sell the show as a movie based on the comic, but that also fell through and he lost the rights to make a theatrical film.

Music industry production

He produced some albums for some bands during the 80's and 90's. Some of those artists include:

• Doro Pesch - In her album called "Doro" in 1991;
• EZO - A Japanese band, which was a famous band in Japan with the name "Flatbacker" and he brought them to the north American business, changing their name to "EZO". He produced their first and self titled album as EZO, in 1988.
• Wendy O. Williams - Gene produced her W.O.W. album in 1984, and enlisted fellow KISS members Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent to perform on it as well.

Controversy

• A February 4, 2002 interview on the NPR radio show Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Gene Simmons said to Gross, "If you want to welcome me with open arms, I'm afraid you're also going to have to welcome me with open legs," to which Gross replied, "That's a really obnoxious thing to say." Gene refused to grant permission to NPR to make the interview available online on the station's website. However, some unauthorized transcripts are available.[1]

• In 2005, Simmons was sued by a former lover, Georgeann Walsh Ward, who alleged that she had been "defamed" in the VH1 documentary "When KISS Ruled the World", which she claimed portrayed her as an "unchaste woman" and implied that she had been more a band groupie than a committed girlfriend of Simmons. Ward insisted that she had been involved in an "exclusive monogamous relationship" with Simmons since before KISS was formed. [2] The suit is settled as of June 29, 2006 [3].

CD releases

• Gene Simmons 1978
• Sex Money Kiss (audiobook CD) 2003
• Asshole 2004
• Gene Simmons "Monster" Box Set (Coming Soon)

DVD

• Speaking In Tongues 2004
• Gene Simmons Family Jewels DVD box set 2006
• My Dad the Rock Star

Trivia

• He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on Oct 15, 2006.

• Simmons sent a video recording in August 2006 to an Israeli soldier severely wounded in combat in Lebanon, praising him as his hero. Simmons spoke in "confident Hebrew" at one point during the video, according to AssociatedPress.[4]

• According to Simmons' biography, Simmons himself insisted there be a clause inserted into every contract bands and artists signed when they joined $immons Records, expressly forbidding drug use and possession. From a legal standpoint, this meant that, should an artist or band member be arrested on drug charges, they could also be sued for breach of contract.

• Simmons claims that he has never been drunk or done drugs.

Further reading

• KISS and Make-Up, Gene Simmons (ISBN 0-609-81002-2)
• Sex Money KISS, Gene Simmons (ISBN 1-893224-86-4)
• KISS: The Early Years, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (ISBN 0-609-81028-6)

External links

• GeneSimmons.com, Simmons' official website
• Gene Simmons at IMDb
• Interview with Gene Simmons
• Audio - February 4, 2002 interview by Terry Gross with Gene Simmons on Fresh Air: Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4

• http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=11083

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