Ace Frehley, Kiss’ original lead guitarist, dies at 74

Ace Frehley performing onstage | Via CBS News

Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and founding member of the glam rock band Kiss, died on Thursday, his family and agent said. He was 74.

Frehley died peacefully surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey, following a recent fall, his agent told The Associated Press.

Family members said in a statement to AP that they are “completely devastated and heartbroken” but will cherish his laughter and celebrate the kindness he bestowed upon others.

Frehley’s former Kiss bandmates, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, said in a statement they were “devastated” by Frehley’s passing.

“He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history,” the two said. “He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy. Our thoughts are with Jeanette, Monique and all those who loved him, including our fans around the world.”

Frehley is the first death among the four founding members.

Frehley was recovering from a “minor fall” that forced him to cancel a scheduled performance in late September, his tour manager, John Ostrosky, also known as John Ostronomy, said in a Facebook post last month addressed to fans. Doctors advised Frehley not to travel following his fall, Ostrosky said.

Born in 1951 in the Bronx, Frehley grew up surrounded by music and received his first electric guitar as a Christmas present in 1964. Before joining Kiss, he played in local bands around New York City and was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix at age 18.

Frehley co-founded Kiss in 1973 alongside Stanley, Simmons and Peter Criss. He played on many of Kiss’ classic albums, including “Destroyer,” “Rock and Roll Over” and “Love Gun.” Today, Kiss has more gold albums than any other American band and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Kiss, whose hits include “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “Detroit Rock City,” was known for its intense stage shows, which included fireworks, smoke and eruptions of fake blood performed by band members in black-and-white painted faces, platform boots and black wigs.

Band members took on the personas of comic book-style characters — Frehley was known as “Space Ace” and the “Spaceman.” The New York-born entertainer often experimented with pyrotechnics, making his guitars glow, emit smoke and shoot rockets from the headstock.

The band was extremely popular, especially in the mid-1970s, selling tens of millions of albums and licensing its iconic look to sell numerous products. “Beth” was its biggest commercial hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1976.

Frehley later released his first solo album, “Ace Frehley,” in 1978, and his song “New York Groove” quickly became a hit. Frehley frequently feuded with Stanley and Simmons through the years and left Kiss in 1982 to form the band Frehley’s Comet and later continued recording under his own name.

In 1996, Frehley rejoined Kiss for their 1996 reunion tour but left again in the early 2000s. The band continued with replacement members wearing the Frehley and Criss makeup and costumes. Kiss performed a farewell tour in 2023.

When the original four entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, a dispute scrapped plans for them to perform. Simmons and Stanley objected to Criss and Frehley being inducted instead of then-guitarist Tommy Thayer and then-drummer Eric Singer.

Simmons told Rolling Stone magazine that year that Frehley and Criss “no longer deserve to wear the paint.” “The makeup is earned,” he added. “Just being there at the beginning is not enough.”

Frehley and Kiss also had a huge influence on the glammy style of 1980s so-called hair metal bands, including Mötley Crüe and Poison.

“Ace, my brother, I surely cannot thank you enough for the years of great music, the many festivals we’ve done together and your lead guitar on Nothing But A Good Time,” Poison front man Bret Michaels wrote Thursday on Instagram.

As the Kennedy Center’s new chair, President Trump named Kiss as one of this year’s honorees.

In 2024, the band sold its catalog, brand name and intellectual property to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment Group in a deal estimated to be more than $300 million.