KISS
Meets The Phantom Of The Park; Young Doctors In Love (but edited out);
The Decline Of Western Civilization - Part Two: The Metal Years; Detroit
Rock City
unmarried,
but living together with longtime girlfriend Shannon Tweed
children:
Nicholas
Adam Simmons (born January 22, 1989) and Sophie Louise Tweed Simmons
(born July 7,1992)
famous
ex-girlfriends:
Cher
and Diana Ross
first
career:
teacher
at Public School 75 in Spanish Harlem
instrument:
bass
first
instrument:
guitar
first
concert:
Jeff
Beck Group and Vanilla Fudge at the New York Worlds Fair
artists
produced:
Wendy
O`Williams; Keel; Black ' N' Blue; EZO; Doro Pesch; House Of Lords
and others
movie
roles:
KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park
(1978, playing himself/the Demon); Runaway (1984, playing Charles Luther); Never
Too Young To Die (1986, playing Carruthers/Velvet von Ragner); Trick
Or Treat (1986, playing Nuke); Wanted Dead Or Alive (1987,
playing Malak al Rahim); The Decline Of Western Civilization - Part Two:
The Metal Years (1988, as himself); Red Surf (1990, playing Doc);
Detroit Rock City (1999, playing himself/the Demon); Wish You Were
Dead (2000, playing a hair stylist); At Any Cost (2000); The
New Guy (2001);
tv
roles:
Miami Vice
("The Prodigal Son - Part 1", 1985, playing
Newton Blade ); The Hitcher ("O.D. Feeling", 1983, playing Mr. Big);
Millennium ("...Thirteen Years Later", 1998 playing himself/the Demon
and Hector Leachman)
favorite
(childhood/all-time) artists:
The
Beatles; The Temptations; The Four Tops; Slade
The Lick It Up Tour continued in the USA and Canada, with Dutch rockgroup
Vandenberg opening. Throughout the tour Vinnie had made the same misstake
of wanting more control and influence in what happened with the band so
he was fired again once the tour was over, this time for good. While KISS
started looking for a new leadguitarist, Gene produced Wendy Orlean Williams'
debut album W.O.W. and also took up an acting career with Runaway,
starring Tom "Magnum" Selleck, being his first real movie role after the
1978 KISS movie KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park. While Gene
was in Hollywood, the rest of the band, along with new leadguitarist Mark
St John, recorded a new album. In September the album Animalize
came out and eventually made it onto the number 19 spot in the U.S. charts
and awarded double platinum, thus becoming KISS' most successful album
in many years. By the time it was time to go out on tour again, new leadguitarist
Mark discovered he had a rare disease called Reiter's Syndrome which unabled
him to play guitar. Cancelling or delaying another tour would have hurt
the band's reputation so a temporary replacement had to be found very
quickly. Bruce Kulick was the replacement leadguitarist
and after a short rehearsal he went to Europe with KISS where the Animalize
Tour kicked off on September 30. The U.S. leg of the tour started in the
third week of November, and when the tour ended it was decided to keep
Bruce in the band as Mark had only played 2 shows during the tour.
In
the Summer of '83, only months after his official departure from KISS,
Ace found himself in the spotlights again too. He'd lost his driver's
license for a while after a high speed car chase between his DeLorean
sportscar and the police. KISS meanwhile ended the Creatures Of The
Night Tour in Brazil, where two open air shows in August were witnessed
by 300,000 people. After the tour Vinnie was fired because he wanted
more power and control, which Paul and Gene obviously couldn't accept.
In September the new album Lick It Up was released, with Vinnie back in the band. But it
wasn't just another KISS album... for the first time in 10 years the KISS
members appeared on the album's coverphoto without their trademark make up!
KISS had taken the make up off, which was being premiered on MTV in a live
broadcast. The band once again made headlines all over the USA. The two huge
concerts in Brazil turned out to be the last KISS shows with make up. When
the band was formed in the early seventies, critics said it was a dumb move
to be a band with so much make up and outrageous outfits, a band in make up
wouldn't be around long. Now in the early eighties critics said it was
stupid to take the make up off, they wouldn't be around much longer. Whether
it had to do with removing the facepaint or not, the Lick It Up album
made its way to the number 24 spot in Billboard's album chart. KISS was back
on the way to the top. In October the single Lick It Up was released
and the band kicked off a new world tour in Europe.
In 1982 Ace spent a couple of weeks in hospital after the drunken driver
had crashed his Porsche. He was very disappointed with how things in the
band were going - especially ever since his 1978 solo album had turned
out the most successful one out of the four he felt he wasn't taken serious
as a songwriter - and apparantly he expected that his drinking and drugging
would make things better. Instead, his health was getting worse due to
too much alcohol and drugs. Once he was released from the hospital, he
was being nurtered by his wife who had just given birth to a daughter,
Monique. While Ace recovered, the rest of the band worked on a four track
EP, supposedly titled Severe Cuts. But when the four songs were
finished it was decided not to release an EP, but to include these new
songs on a compilation album which was released as Killers in May
of '82 (in the USA the album was never officially released though). Within
six months, a full new album came out titled Creatures Of The Night
and for which Bryan Adams co-wrote two songs. Although Ace was still on
the coverphoto, he hardly had contributed to the very heavy album. Most
lead guitar parts were recorded by other guitarists, including a certain
Vincent Cusano who also had co-written three songs on the album.
In the meantime former KISS drummer Peter Criss had released his second
post-KISS solo album, Let Me Rock You, but it only saw the light
of day in Europe. Like his previous album, it flopped and a tour never
took place. He escaped in drugs even more, but eventually he attended
a rehabilitation center and overcame his cocaine addiction. Within the
KISS camp things were pretty scary as well. In December a new tour had
to kick off, but Ace was no longer in the band anymore as after a European
promotional tour it was decided it'd be better if Ace left the band. Vincent
Cusano, rechristened Vinnie Vincent ("The Wiz"), replaced
Ace on tour. The Creatures Of The Night Tour, with Motley Crue as opening
act, was so much fuel to the fire of rumors that KISS were fascists who
worshipped the devil that once again religious protesters tried to forbid
the KISS shows. Religious groups burned KISS albums and handed out flyers
to the KISS fans stating that the band was the incarnation of the devil
and should be banned forever. Preachers tumbled over eachother on television
to warn America for KISS. Either due to these evangelists confusing KISS
for satan or due to the recession in the States, the Creatures Of The
Night Tour wasn't too much of a success and the last two months had to
be cancelled. Still, KISS made headlines all over the country thanks to
the religious protests.
In February of '81 Creem magazine was the first U.S. rock magazine to
publish decent photos of the KISS members without make up, along with
captures like: "Four of the ugliest mugs in the biz" which didn't add to the
band's popularity. With Unmasked being the band's poorest selling
album, band meetings were held to discuss the band's future direction as
particularly Ace wasn't happy with the way the musical direction was
heading. They agreed on doing a heavy album again, going back to basics.
Meanwhile Gene and Eric went back to Europe to receive an award for "Best
band of the year" in Austria. Back in the States, Gene bounced off ideas for
the next album with producer Bob Ezrin. Gene played him some tunes he had
been working on for a possible movie, after which the original plans for a
heavy album were dropped. After the success he had experienced with Pink
Floyd's concept album The Wall, Ezrin thought KISS too needed a
concept album - based on the movie ideas. The basic idea was the story of a
young boy chosen by a cosmic ideal known as "The Elder", to become a warrior
for good and conquer evil forces in the world as a champion. Needless to
say, Ace wasn't amused with the change of plans. In fact, he wasn't happy
with the choice of producer either since him and Ezrin had had their
difficulties during the recording of 1976's Destroyer album. Things
would only get worse during the sessions for the new album. To escape the
troubles and pressures, Ace abused drugs and alcohol even more than in the
past. He hardly showed up in the recording studio, most of his work was done
at his own Ace In The Hole Studio at home. For the recording sessions, KISS
once again brought out the works as the American Symphony Orchestra and St.
Robert's Choir were involved, and Lou Reed co-wrote two songs with the band.
Ace didn't like the album's final mix, and on top of that Bob Ezrin had cut
out some of Ace's guitar solos. The Spaceman didn't want the album to be
released, but obviously he was outvoted by Paul and Gene. When the album
(Music From) The Elder came out in November of '81, Ace wasn't there
for most of the promotional tour because he was too busy drinking with his
buddies and even spent some time in jail (where he met a certain Richie
Scarlett) after he had been selling pills his wife had gotten hold of thanks
to a fake doctor's prescription. During interviews the band explained Ace's
absence due to an illness and that despite rumors of Ace leaving the band he
would be back as soon as he got well. Even when the band had to lipsynch the
album's second single, I, for Italy's San Remo festival where KISS
was chosen the "Best international act", Ace didn't show up and for the
first and last time the band had to perform as a trio. The new album flopped
heavily, eventhough for the first time in the band's almost 10 year career
the critics had reviewed the album very positively. It was the band's most
critically acclaimed record ever. The critics and other KISS haters started
to realize KISS was not only able to put on an awesome live show, but also
capable of playing their instruments. The movie that was supposed to go
along with it was never realized and a tour to back up the album did never
take place. The only time KISS played songs off the concept album live was
on the U.S. television show Fridays, which aired on January 15, 1982.
In
the meantime KISS had to get back to business, eventhough Peter had to
leave the band which was kept a secret for the outside world. In New
York City Paul, Gene and Ace worked on a new album, while Peter was
recording his very own album at the RCA Recording Studios in New York.
When the time had come for KISS to start recording the new tracks, it
was Anton Fig again who secretly took care of the drumparts. Meanwhile
Gene and Paul maintained a high profile in the press, as Gene had
started dating Diana Ross and Paul's girlfriend was none other than
Cher's sister Georgianna LaPierre. And Ace made headlines too, but
unfortunately only due to his partying and drunk driving. Nevertheless,
the band managed to finish the new album which saw the light of day on
May 20, 1980 titled Unmasked.
Peter Criss was still shown on the cover, but on the day of the album's
release his departure from KISS was officially announced to the world
and later in the year he released his first post-KISS solo album, Out
Of Control. While the new KISS album peaked at number 35 on the U.S.
charts, auditions for a new drummer started. Eventually an unknown local
talent by the name of Paul Caravello was chosen as the new drummer, but
not before he had shaven off his moustache and changed his name into Eric
Carr ("The Fox").
The new drummer made his live debut on July 25 at New York's Palladium
(formerly the Academy Of Music where KISS had left such a strong impression
at the New Years Eve '73/74 show with Blue Oyster Cult headlining). From
August 29 uptil October 13 KISS toured Europe with Iron Maiden as opening
act. Particularly in Germany, KISS - and especially its striking logo - was
faced with protests from elderly people who had experienced World War II and
accused the band from fascism. In Holland someone even tried to put up a
lawsuit against KISS. Both in Germany (where the original KISS logo was
forbidden by law) as well as Holland, the band decided to use a different,
censored, logo on stage. In Italy, the band was faced with other problems,
as Gene nearly got killed during his flying act because his head got stuck
between the piano wires. Ever since the band's number 1 hit I Was Made
For Lovin' You, the media all over Europe had discovered the band too
but during the tour the media attention was multiplied, with many cover
stories on the band. Actually, these stories focused more on the image than
on the band and the music, with journalists wondering if Gene's tongue
perhaps was a cow's tongue. Also, photos of KISS members without their
trademark make up started appearing in the magazines worldwide more and
more. During the tour of Australia, KISS caused for Beatlemania x 2.
Attendance records were quickly broken and the media attention overthere was
even bigger than in the rest of the world. While the band's popularity in
the States was going down, KISS was still the biggest band in several other
countries. Once the band members had returned to the USA to enjoy a short
vacation in December, newcomer Eric was given a Porsche 924 by the band.
Early
1979 KISS started rehearsing again, although Peter had been involved in
a serious car accident. Session drummer Anton Fig, who had played drums
on Ace's solo album, replaced Peter in the studio as the band couldn't
afford to wait any longer, while rumors of KISS breaking up for good
still were making the rounds. In May the new album, Dynasty, was released peaking at No. 9 in the
U.S. charts. The first single, I Was Made For Lovin' You, peaked at No. 11
in the U.S., whereas it made it all the way to No. 1 in a lot of other countries.
Thanks to a much popier sound (and because of the toys and other merchandise) a
whole new generation of music fans turned onto KISS. TV, radio, magazines and
newspapers were all paying attention to KISS. The merchandise started to become
available outside the USA as well and the KISS Army was rapidly growing all around
the world.
With more and more kids getting into KISS, some of the old die-hards left the KISS
Army and went on to other bands. During the Dynasty Tour, Cher broke up with Gene
and towards the end of the tour Peter and his wife Lydia got divorced. Some sources
even claim Peter missed some shows during the tour and had to be replaced by his
drum roadie on these occassions. Ace too was getting a bigger problem all the time,
and it was suggested to him he would seek professional help for his substance abuse.
Peter was determined to leave the band and went to Brazil for his honeymoontrip with
his new wife (a photomodel named Debbie Jensen). A tour of Europe suddenly had to be
cancelled, without informing the fans why. Meanwhile record label president Neil Bogart
left Casablanca Records & Filmworks, which allowed KISS to sign a deal with
PolyGram Records. The biggest deal in the music industry ever, at the time.
Behind closed doors things got really nasty. While cocaine was ruling
their lives, Peter and Ace made it clear they were going to leave the
band to do solo albums if they wouldn't get more creative input. A compromise
that saved the day was that they would all do a solo album and release
the four solo albums simultaneously. The fans however, were eagerly awaiting
a new elpee from the band, so while the band was breaking attendance records
again during their second tour of Japan in March/April of 1978, the record
company decided to release a two-record compilation album, appropriately
titled Double Platinum. After the tour the band split up for a
while and the band members all went their separate ways. During this break
Gene met Cher at a Hollywood party and only one month later bought her
a Ferrari. While Gene was making headlines thanks to his affair with Cher,
the rumor of KISS breaking up reared its ugly head. But in May the band
was back in business and working on the next big surprise: a KISS movie. KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park was shown on prime time saturday
night TV in the U.S.A. and shown in cinemas a year later in other countries.
Marvel wanted to do another KISS comic, and merchandise such as dolls,
beltbuckles, toy vans, masks, costumes, colorforms, puzzles, lunch boxes,
sleeping bags, etc. etc. spread like wildfire. Things were going over
the top, it seemed. Not since Elvis or The Beatles had people seen anything
like this! Their was no stopping the KISS machine led by manager Bill
Aucoin. On September 18, 1978 the solo albums were released, and all four
shipped Platinum. Over four million 'KISS' albums being delivered to the
record stores in the U.S.A. all at once. Never ever had the music industry
experienced anything like that. KISS was all over the media. The band
members took the rest of the year off. Paul hooked up with a certain Desmond
Child to work on some songs and like Gene (who also helped Cher in getting
a record deal with Casablanca Records) he produced other bands,
while Ace had a state-of-the-art recording studio being build under his
house, and Peter went to Europe for a vacation.
In April of 1977, right after the Japanese tour, the band members took their very
first holidays since the band was formed to be away from each other from a
while. Not only their popularity had become huge, so had their egos. Peter and Ace's
substance abuse made things even worse. Only a month or so later, they were all back
in New York City recording the next album. Meanwhile KISS had officialy been chosen
the most popular band in America, according to the Gallup Poll (leaving the Eagles,
The Beatles and Led Zeppelin in the dust). Late May, the new album Love Gun
shipped Platinum to the record stores. In June the first KISS Marvel Comic was
published and a month later the band went out on their biggest tour ever. The new
album peaked at No. 4 in the U.S. charts, with the previous three albums in the Top
100 of the Record World Album Charts as well (making KISS the only band in the U.S.A.
to have four albums in the Top 100). During the tour the second live album, Alive
II, was recorded. To make the album even more special for the fans, new studio
tracks were being recorded for Side 4 of the double elpee. Once again ghost musicians
had to be hired to fill in for Ace on most of these new tracks. By the end of 1977
the album shipped Platinum nevertheless. Meanwhile over 100,000 fans had officially
joined the KISS Army, which had become the biggest fanclub in music history.
After the release of Alive! KISS quickly became the biggest band in the
United States. In January of 1976 the band started recording their fourth album,
during these sessions the news of Alive! having reached Platinum was
announced. So, the band felt the new elpee would be a 'make it or break it' album.
Legendary producer Bob Ezrin was brought in, and it being the first time in their
recording career that they didn't have to worry about money they took the
opportunity to hire studio musicians playing violin, cello, trumpet and such.
On the outside everything looked A-okay, but on the inside troubles started to show.
Ace and Peter more and more disliked the fact that most of their songs were rejected
by Paul and Gene. On top of that Ace didn't get along with Bob Ezrin, who didn't
like Ace's working schedule. Nobody knew that a ghost musician was brought in,
in fact even Ace didn't know that Dick Wagner (a good friend of Ezrin's who played
on Alice Cooper albums) re-did some of his lead tracks. Before winding up the new
elpee, Destroyer, KISS had their feet printed in cement in front of the
Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The album shipped Gold, when it was sent to
record stores on March 15.
In May of 1976 KISS toured Europe for the very first time, just after Ace Frehley
had married his childhood love Jeanette. Late July Detroit Rock City was
released on single with Beth, a ballad sung by Peter, on the B-side (as
that was literally how Gene and Paul rated this song, they originally didn't even
want it to be included on the album). Surprisingly it was Peter's tune that became
a big hit, peaking at No. 7 in the US Top 40. The four masked musicians were awarded
the People's Choice Award for the hitsingle Beth. KISS had now really reached
the masses too! And after more touring, the band decided it was time for another
album again.
In what was very much a live spirit, the elpee Rock And Roll Over was recorded
in New York. The album shipped Platinum when it was released in November of 1976 and
peaked at No. 11 in the U.S. charts, while Destroyer had gone Platinum too.
On the inside however, problems were growing more seriously. The band was changing
into two different camps (Paul/Gene versus Ace/Peter) more and more. Of course this
was kept a secret for the outside world and the band went out on yet another tour as
if nothing was wrong. Their popularity was still rising, and there was even talk of
a Marvel Comic totally dedicated to KISS. A tour of Japan was also being prepared. A
Boeing 747 was re-painted with the KISS logo and re-named the KISS Clipper Special.
In Japan, the band broke attendance records set by The Beatles in the
sixties. KISS had become even more popular in the far east! And still,
nobody knew what the band members looked like without their trademark
(the so called KISS Decision verdict) make-up...
Album number three, Dressed To Kill, was released in February of 1975
only one year after the debut elpee! Even more than the previous album, this one
seemed more of a Stanley/Simmons thing than a band effort. Judging by the song
selection at least: the only song not written/sung by Paul or Gene was Getaway,
written by Ace and sung by Peter. The album became KISS' first Top 40 elpee, peaking
at No. 32 in the U.S. charts. As a live act KISS was now beginning to become quite
legendary. But since the albums still didn't sell spectacularly, there was no money
for a new album. Luckily Eddie Kramer had recorded a few shows during the Dressed To
Kill Tour, so there was the opportunity to release a live album.
Alive! was released on September 10, 1975 and packed in a fold out cover with
all sorts of extras (such as a full color booklet): it was something of a gift to the
fans. The single Rock And Roll All Nite made it to the No. 12 spot in the U.S.
hitparade. According to more and more loyal KISS fans there still wasn't enough KISS
on the radio, so they started phoning and writing the radio stations. From then on the
DJ's and people in other media started referring to the fans as the KISS Army. Early
December the live album had sold 500.000 copies (Gold award) and it went on to peak
at No. 9 in the US charts (eventually selling over 4 million). In Atlanta, Georgia a
record store celebrated the Gold award by having the four band members print their
hand and feet in black cement, while the band name was spelled out in the sidewalk
with silver bricks.
Early January 1974 KISS re-opened the old Fillmore East in New York City,
while Paul (adviced by Neil Bogart) had changed his make up from the now well
known
star on his right eye to a bandit or Lone Ranger-type mask. After the show a huge
party was held for the press, because of the soon te be released debut album. The
record was mixed and pressed on February 1 and in stores less than three weeks later
(and would peak in the U.S. charts at No. 87). Meanwhile Paul, unhappy with his
new make up, changed it back to the star again. When the album came out on February
18, Neil Bogart's Casablanca Records & Filmworks threw a huge party in Los
Angeles at the Century Plaza Hotel where a big room was turned into a replica
of Rick's Cafe from the movie Casablanca. One day later KISS debuted
on television (on the U.S. TV show In Concert).
It was about time they went on a real tour, as so far they had only played in the
State of New York. So they went to Canada to play the entire debut elpee live, and
to treat the audience on some spectacular theatrics including exploding drumsticks
for Peter Criss (a very dangerous act, which they stopped doing after a drumroadie
had lost a hand). Their shows were full of high energy rock 'n' roll, bombs,
firebreathing, bloodspitting, levitating drums, explosions, burning guitars, and
so on. Soon bands began refusing to let KISS open for them, because after seeing
the spectacular live shows put on by KISS the audience wasn't interested in many
of the headlining acts anymore. In May a kiss-contest was held and to promote this
stunt, KISS covered a Bobby Rydell hit: Kissin' Time, which they had already
been playing during their live performances. As soon as radio stations started
playing this song, the record company decided to include this track on future
pressings of the first album (although the band didn't want it). Nowadays, the
original pressing without the cover song is very hard to find.
By September KISS started recording the second album, at the Village Recorder in
Los Angeles far away from home. They were put up in a hotel and getting
homesick, which inspired Ace and Paul to write a tune called Comin' Home.
The album, entitled Hotter Than Hell, saw the light of day in October of 1974.
Again, Paul and Gene had written and sung most of the songs that ended up on the
album. The band quickly started touring full speed again. One day during the tour
manager Bill Aucoin informed the band that the new elpee wasn't selling anymore,
sales of the album didn't even match those of the first album. There was no choice
but to return to New York and start working on the next album immediately. Still
low on budget KISS didn't have much time to record the album. They couldn't afford
to waste any time and being short of new material, they reworked two Wicked Lester
tracks: Love Her All I Can and She.
Around 1970 Gene Simmons (bass/vocals) and Paul Stanley (vocals/rhythm
guitar) - who had been playing together since the late sixties - formed a
band called Rainbow, but the band fell apart before they could record an
album. With their next band, a 5-piece group called Wicked Lester, they
recorded an album in 1972 that however never was officially released as
nobody thought it was any good. The album got shelved, and Gene and Paul
fired the other three musicians and started looking for new musicians. They
saw an advert in Rolling Stone magazine by a drummer "willing to do anything
to make it". A little later Peter Criss
joined the duo. They rehearsed for a few months, but Peter didn't see
any improvements and fell back in his old habit: drugs, trying to escape
from the world around him. At a certain point they came to the conclusion
that the thing that was lacking, was a lead guitarist. An advert was placed
in the Village Voice, in which they said they were looking for
a guitar player with flash and also claimed they had a recording deal.
Out of the many guitarists that auditioned, Ace Frehley
was chosen after Peter who really digged Ace from the moment he
walked in had been pushing for him. Ace, looking for a band doing
original material and also in need of a job, joined the band somewhere
in October of 1972.
It
was a time when New York City was the place to be, and the glam rock
(or shock rock as some people called it) scene was at its peak. British
acts such as David Bowie, T-Rex, Slade and The Sweet were the kings of
the genre, while in New York bands like the New York Dolls, the Harlots
of 42nd Street, Ruby And The Rednecks and Luger were trying to do the
same. In only a few weeks Gene and Paul came up with enough songs to
perform live. The foursome wanted to be the band that they had never
seen, combining heavy rock and theatrics. They decided to wear make-up,
extravagant costumes and high heel boots. So they experimented with
paint on their faces, and were tossing around ideas for the live show
as well as a name for the band. Because they played original material
(and they played it loud!) and looked so weird no club was interested
in booking them. Therefore they had to hire ballrooms themselves to
play live. They set up a packages including two other bands (local
bands that already had a following, so at least there would be fans of
those bands showing up they thought that stealing the audience
from those bands would be the fastest way to build their own
following). Then they would take care of the promotion themselves as
well, but made absolutely sure nobody would find out that they hung up
the posters themselves.
Ik ben Jeroen, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Ace_Frehley.
Ik ben een man en woon in Gijzegem (België) en mijn beroep is Niks.
Ik ben geboren op 05/02/1992 en ben nu dus 33 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Muziek en al:).
The Lick It Up Tour continued in the USA and Canada, with Dutch rockgroup
Vandenberg opening. Throughout the tour Vinnie had made the same misstake
of wanting more control and influence in what happened with the band so
he was fired again once the tour was over, this time for good. While KISS
started looking for a new leadguitarist, Gene produced Wendy Orlean Williams'
debut album W.O.W. and also took up an acting career with Runaway,
starring Tom "Magnum" Selleck, being his first real movie role after the
1978 KISS movie KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park. While Gene
was in Hollywood, the rest of the band, along with new leadguitarist 
