Full Story

The year is 1972 and Eugene Kleine a.k.a. Gene Simmons and Stanley Harvey Eisen a.k.a. Paul Stanley have disbanded Wicked Lester and start looking around for new members, they answer an add in Rolling Stone magazine which said "drummer with 11 years experience willing to do anything to make it" after a try out Peter Criscoula a.k.a. Peter Criss was in.

After days of interviewing and listening to every waif and stray who fancied himself as a guitarist Gene and Paul were on the verge of giving all hope of finding that special person who could play lead guitar.
When a strange looking character wearing different coloured sneakers on his feet walked in and without introducing himself just started playing his guitar. Gene and Paul were knocked of their feet Paul Daniel Frehley a.k.a Ace Frehley was in.

At first they played small clubs but they quickly came to realise that to really make it they would have to be different from the other bands, so they started to wear make up.
They very quickly earned the reputation of the band you must really go to see and were rewarded with a record contract with Casablanca.
The first album they released was Kiss in 1974 quickly followed by Hotter than Hell and then in 1975 they released Dressed to Kill none of these three albums were what you could call hit records so seeing as though they had a reputation for their live gigs they decided to record a live album .

Alive became there biggest selling record to date. In 1976 kiss released there next studio album Destroyer this was there first studio album to go gold.They then released Rock and Roll Over in late 1976 and Love Gun in 1977, sales for both these records were to go through the roof kiss were now very big all over the world.
In late 1977 kiss recorded there second live album Alive11 Then in 1978 mainly due to Aces problem with drink and Peters problem with drugs both Peter and Ace weren`t very happy in the band and wanted to go .
But Gene and Paul both fought to keep the band together ,so after the compilation album Double Platinum all four members recorded a solo album.
They agreed to have there pictures on the front along with there names but in one corner they decided to put Kiss and they all dedicated their respective albums to the other members of the group.

In 1979 we saw a change in kiss`s music. The music of the day was mainly "disco" and there was definitely a more Pop beat the best example of this can be heard on their latest album Dynasty with the release of their next single "I Was Made For Loving You".
It was during the Dynasty tour that Peter decided to quit Kiss.
They released a new album called "Unmasked" in 1980 but Peter hardly played anything on it.
The drums were mainly played by Anton Fig-the drummer on Aces solo album and later on Frehleys Comet, so before recording the next album Kiss had to go searching for a new drummer.

After auditions Kiss decided to go for an unknown drummer from Brooklyn,Eric Carr.
Eric soon found his part in the band when they went on tour in Australia a few weeks after his arrival.
In 1981 Kiss released "Music From The Elder" this was another change in direction for Kiss the only way I can really describe this album is by saying it is like a movie theme track but without the movie, the first track on the album "I am just a boy" even has a childrens choir singing on it that`s not bad for a heavy metal rock band is it.

Now the group started having problems with Ace and his drinking problem he didn`t take much part in the next album "Creatures Of The Night" .
In 1982 Ace totalled his car and was badly injured so when Kiss started touring again Ace was left behind because he had lost the will to play guitar.

They decided to go for Vinnie Vincent the person who stood in for Ace during the recording of "Creatures Of The Night"The four of them then went on to play Rio and proved there top status in Brazil by performing in front of 260,000 people which broke the record of about 250,000 set by Queen in 1973 a record which still stands unbeaten today.
This turned out to be the last time Kiss were to play in make-up for fiveteen years .
Unfortunately Vinnie only lasted about 15 months, within which time kiss had released there first studio album without make-up, and due to his habitual drug taking was asked to leave the group by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.

Vinnie was replaced by Mark Norton a.k.a.Mark St. John who in turn only lasted long enough to gain a couple of credits on the next album Animalize, when Mark St. John was affected with Reiter's Syndrome just prior to the beginning of the band's Animalize world tour, it was Bruce Kulick who was contracted as a temporary and ultimately permanent-replacement.
A professional musician for more than twenty years, the Brooklyn-born Kulick first came to prominence as a touring guitarist with Meatloaf.

Although he didn't record with Meatloaf, he did play guitar on Billy Squire's debut album, Tale Of The Tape, as well as forming the band Blackjack with vocalist Michael Bolton before joining Kiss in 1984.

Although he was their fourth lead guitarist, Bruce Kulick was actually a member of Kiss for more consecutive years than any of his predecessors, including original guitarist Ace Frehley.
Over the course of twelve years, Bruce's talented contributions resulted in three platinum and four gold records for Kiss, starting with Asylum in 1985. then came Crazy Nights with the hit single Crazy Crazy Nights then came Smashes Thrashes And Hits.
The late-eighties saw KISS regaining its stature and enlisting a new army of fans. "Forever," from the 1989 album Hot in the Shade, became the band's biggest single since "Beth."and was also the last album that Eric Carr played on.
In November of 1991 Eric Carr passed away after a battle with cancer. He is now laid to rest in Cedar
Hill Mausoleum in upstate New York.

Eric

Eric was posthumously inducted in to the Hollywood Rockwalk Of Fame.

Eric was then replaced by Eric Singer in December of 1991,After performing with Paul Stanley on Paul`s 1989 solo club tour.

The first album that Eric Singer performed on was called Revenge this record has been described as Kiss through and through then came You Wanted The Best You Got The Best a compilation album.
Following a whirlwind convention tour in 1995, Bruce and Eric participated in perhaps Kiss' most ambitious project to date: a live acoustic album called MTV Unplugged.
While Kulick's work on Kiss Unplugged is extraordinary, it was largely overshadowed by a collaboration with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley that was to be the catalyst in a reformation of the original Kiss.
MTV`s kiss Unplugged turned out to be the undoing of Kulick and Singer because back on the scene came Ace Frehley and Peter Criss .
Then came what turned out to be the last album involving Kulick and Singer the Carnival Of Souls which was released in 1995.

(Rest in peace)

1982

1985

1991