Kiss Guitarist Ace Frehley Dead at 74


The wild Spaceman of Kiss played with the group from their
inception in 1973 until 1982, and then again during their
reunion period in the Nineties

By Andy Greene

October 16, 2025






Ace Frehley, the wild Spaceman of Kiss who played guitar in the
band throughout their Seventies heyday and again during the
reunion period in the Nineties, inspiring an entire generation of
musicians to pick up the instrument along the way, died on
Thursday in Morristown, New Jersey.
He was 74.

Lori Lousararian, Frehley’s rep, attributed his death to a
“recent fall at his home,” though a specific cause of death
was not immediately available.

“We are completely devastated and heartbroken,” Frehley’s family
said in a statement. “In his last moments, we were fortunate
enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring,
peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this
earth. We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and
celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others.
The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions, and beyond
comprehension. Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements,
Ace’s memory will continue to live on forever!”

In late September, Frehley cancelled a concert at the Antelope Valley
Fair in Lancaster, California, after suffering a “minor fall in his studio”
that required a trip to the hospital. “He is fine,” read a note to fans,
“but against his wishes, his doctor insists that he refrain from travel
at this time.” On October 11, Frehley pulled the remaining 2025 dates
on his calendar due to unspecified “ongoing medical issues.”

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were the primary songwriters in Kiss,
but Frehley’s guitar chops and rock star attitude were key components
of the band’s success. As a songwriter, Frehley wrote “Cold Gin,”
“Parasite,” “Shock Me,” “Talk to Me,” and other fan favorites.







As a kid growing up in the Bronx, Frehley was torn between athletics
and rock music. But after taking a few nasty hits on the football field,
he had an epiphany. “This is bullshit,” he later recalled thinking.
“My hands are too important. The guitar comes first.”


He became even more certain at age 16 when he saw the Who and
Cream at RKO Theater in Manhattan. “The Who really inspired me
towards theatrical rock,” he said. “When I saw them, it totally blew
me away. I’d never seen anything like it. It was a big turning point.”

Frehley played in a series of unsuccessful bands throughout the late
Sixties and early Seventies until he stumbled across a Village Voice
ad that forever changed his life: “Lead guitarist wanted with
Flash and Ability. Album Out Shortly. No time wasters please.”

Unable to afford cab fare, his mother drove him out to the Kiss rehearsal
space in Queens. Simmons, Stanley, and drummer Peter Criss initially
laughed at his bell bottom trousers and multi-colored shoes. The laughter
stopped once they showed him their new song “Deuce.” “I just soloed
through the whole song, “Frehley recalled. “They all smiled. We jammed
for a few more songs, and then they said, ‘We like the way you play a lot.
We’ll call you.'”

At this point, the group didn’t even have a name. And their early attempts
at stage makeup didn’t quite work out. “We put on makeup, but it wasn’t
Kiss makeup; it was feminine makeup, like the New York Dolls,” Frehley
told Rolling Stone in 1976. “Back then the Dolls were the hottest thing
and we always wished we could be the Dolls ‘cause we were nobody at
the time. But we weren’t physically like the Dolls, who were small,
skinny guys, so we decided to come on real strong in black and silver.”

The band’s distinct stage makeup and bombastic show generated instant
attention when they started gigging around New York City in 1973. But
they didn’t find mainstream success until their 1975 concert album Alive!
took off. To an outspoken segment of young fans, Frehley was the coolest
member of the band. “When I play guitar onstage it’s like making love,”
he told Rolling Stone in 1976. “If you’re good, you get off every time.”

But it didn’t take long for hard drugs to enter the picture. “There was so
much cocaine in the studio with [producer] Bob Ezrin, it was insane,”
Frehley recalled to Rolling Stone in 2015. “And I hadn’t even done coke
before that. I liked to drink. But once I started doing coke, I really liked
to drink more, and longer, without passing out. So I was really off to the
races. I made my life difficult because there were so many times I’d walk
in with a hangover, or sometimes I wouldn’t even show up.”

In 1978, when every member of Kiss released solo albums on the same
day, Frehley’s self-titled LP reportedly sold the most due to his his cover
of Russ Ballard’s “New York Groove,” which became his signature song. 






And as the group grew more successful in the late Seventies and the
band’s audience started skewing younger, Frehley grew uneasy.
“We were this heavy rock group,” he told Rolling Stone in 2015,
“and now we had little kids with lunchboxes and dolls in the
front row, and I had to worry about cursing in the microphone.
It became a circus.”

That circus also featured a lot behind-the-scenes battles stemming
from Frehley’s drug use, alcohol consumption, and the band’s
decision to use session guitarists on some tracks. By 1982,
Frehley simply had enough. “I was mixed up,” he later recalled.
“I believed that if I stayed in that group I would have committed
suicide. I’d be driving home from the studio, and I’d want to drive
my car into a tree. I mean, I walked out on a $15 million contract.
That would be like $100 million today. And my attorney was looking
at me like, ‘What are you, crazy?’”

In the Eighties, he formed the band Frehley’s Comet, and released
two under-the-radar albums. But a brief Kiss reunion at the
band’s 1995 MTV Unplugged special lead to a massive reunion
tour in 1996 where the four original members put the makeup
back on, dusted off the old songs, and returned to stadiums and
arenas all over the world.




KISS Live at Madison Square Garden 1996 (Full Concert)




In 1998, they cut the new studio LP Psycho Circus, but Frehley
only played on a single track. “I wasn’t invited to the studio,”
he told Ultimate Classic Rock in 2014. “When you hear Paul
and Gene talk about it, they say I didn’t show up. The reason
I’m not on any of the songs is because I wasn’t asked.
They tried to make it look like I was absent.”

He once again left the band in 2002 following the conclusion
of a farewell tour. He was replaced by Tommy Thayer, who
wore his signature Starman makeup and replicated all of his
guitar parts. “Tommy played the right notes, but he didn’t
have the right swagger,” Frehley told Guitar Player in 2014.
“He just doesn’t have my same technique.”


Over the past two decades, Frehley toured heavily as a solo artist
and played sets packed with Kiss classics. His most recent show
took place last month at Providence, Rhode Island’s Uptown Theater,
with Frehley ending, of course, with “Rock and Roll All Nite.”

In a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Frehley spoke about the
ardent devotion of the band’s fanbase. “I have a lot of diehard fans,”
he said. “Ace Frehley fans and Kiss fans are the greatest fans in
the world. They’ve always been there for me through ups and downs.
My life has been a roller coaster ride, but somehow I’ve always been
able to land on my feet and still play the guitar.”








R.I.P.

Ace ....
I have many of memories from the concerts ..
Thanks for those memories ...