Ace and Kiss

Frehley spent the early 1970s in a series of local bands. In late 1972, his best friend, Bob McAdams, spotted an advertisement for a lead guitarist in the Village Voice and showed the ad to Ace. Both Bob and Ace went to 10 East 23rd Street above the Live Bait Bar. Ace auditioned for the trio of Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (bass guitar) and Peter Criss (drums). Frehley (who showed up wearing one red sneaker and one orange sneaker) was less than impressive visually, but the band liked what they heard from his playing. About three weeks after Frehley auditioned, the new group named him their lead guitarist. By January 1973, the unnamed band decided on a name - Kiss. Frehley designed the band's unique, double-lightning-bolt logo.[3] The band quickly decided to paint their faces for live performances, and Frehley decided to start painting silver stars on his eyes. When the group eventually decided to adopt stage personas to go with their makeup designs, Frehley became "Space Ace," an alien visitor from the planet of Jendell.
While Kiss spent their early days rehearsing and playing in empty clubs, Frehley took a job as a part-time cab driver to pay his bills. In September 1973, Kiss began to receive a salary from new manager Bill Aucoin that paid each member $75 a week. This enabled Frehley to quit his job.
Kiss released their debut album, Kiss, in February 1974—Frehley's sole songwriting contribution was "Cold Gin". Due to Frehley's lack of confidence in his own singing voice, however, the vocals were performed by Simmons. Frehley wrote or co-wrote several of the band's songs over the next few years but didn't record his vocals on a song until "Shock Me" (inspired by his near-electrocution during a concert), which appeared on 1977's Love Gun.[2]
As lead guitarist, Frehley was known for his frenetic, atmospheric playing, becoming one of the most popular guitarists in the 70s and spawning a generation of new players. Indeed, Frehley stated in the book Kiss: Behind the Mask that many guitarists have told him his playing on 1975's hit Alive! prompted them to pick up the instrument.
According to Gene Simmons in his book "KISS and Make-Up", Ace was drunk most of the time on tour, except for on stage. Gene also noted in his book that since Gene's mother was a prisoner at a concentration camp in World War II, Ace would at times dress-up in a Nazi commander uniform he bought on tour in 1974 and would knock on Gene's hotel room door and imitate a drunk commanding officer, yelling commands at Gene. Gene says that "Ace found it a funny joke and I didn't let him have fun with it. At times I'd tap him lighty and he'd fall. He continued to do it, but the only times I'd get real mad is if he was doing it sober."[citation needed]
Along with the three other Kiss members, Frehley released an eponymous solo album in 1978. His was the best-selling of the four, and the album's lone single (the Russ Ballard written "New York Groove") reached the Top 20 in the United States.
Frehley's songwriting presence within the group increased in 1979, contributing 2 originals and a cover (The Rolling Stones' 2000 Man) for 1979's Dynasty and 3 originals for 1980s Unmasked. While this was not the best time for Kiss on a commercial level in the United States, they were only just beginning to take off in other countries (mostly in Australia where Dynasty and Unmasked are their highest selling albums). But even as his songwriting role within Kiss was increasing, Frehley found himself increasingly at odds with the musical direction of the band. After Peter Criss left Kiss in 1980, Frehley was often outvoted 2-1 in band decisions, as replacement drummer Eric Carr was not a partner in Kiss and had no vote. Frehley's participation in the recording of 1981's Music from "The Elder" was far more limited than with previous albums. This was, in large part, due to his unhappiness with the band's decision to create a concept album rather than a straightforward rock album, and also, by Frehley's own admission, his "not relating all that well" to producer Bob Ezrin who cut many of Frehley's solos and leads from the recorded tracks.
Exacerbating the situation was Frehley's escalating erratic behavior and substance abuse. In April 1982, Frehley was involved in a serious automobile accident (drummer Anton Fig was the driver). In May, he led police on a 90-mph car chase on the Bronx River Parkway. This incident led to a $600 fine and a six-month suspension of his driver's license.[1] Although Frehley appeared on the covers for 1982's greatest hits album Killers and studio album Creatures of the Night, he had no involvement with Killers, and minimal input on Creatures Of The Night. Frehley's last appearances with the band were the video for "I Love it Loud," a series of European promotional appearances in November 1982 and a band interview with MTV in early 1983 promoting their world tour.

[edit] Solo career/Frehley's Comet
Although Frehley was no longer a legal member of Kiss as of March 1983 (he was replaced by Vinnie Vincent for the start of the Creatures of the Night tour in December 1982), he retained a one-quarter share in the Kiss partnership until 1985. Wanting to avoid any potential legal or monetary entanglements, Frehley did not actively begin his solo career until he was out of the partnership; he did however receive one-quarter of the profits for both Lick It Up and Animalize although he had no involvement on either record.[1]
In 1984, Frehley started his post-Kiss solo career by assembling a band that included, among others, drummer Anton Fig (who had performed on Frehley's 1978 solo album and on two Kiss albums). Bassist John Regan (who had worked with Peter Frampton), whom Frehley met in 1980, was also an original member of the band as was guitarist Richie Scarlett.[1] The group, whose name alternated between 'Ace Frehley' and Frehley's Comet, recorded a series of demos throughout 1984 and 1985.[4] The band performed their first ever live show at S.I.R. Studios in New York City, NY on November 20, 1984.
After a few unsuccessful attempts at securing a recording contract, the group eventually signed to Megaforce Records and released their first album, Frehley's Comet, on July 7, 1987. The album was co-produced by Eddie Kramer, who had produced not only a number of Kiss albums, but Frehley's 1978 album and some of his 1984-85 demos. Before Frehley's Comet's release, Anton Fig being the in-studio drummer for David Letterman's late-night television show, did perform on the album but was unable to maintain a permanent commitment to touring. He did play on the 1987 tour in the U.S. when Frehley's band played a double bill with Y&T, and new band (at the time) White Lion opening the shows.
Frehley's Comet, a mixture of hard rock and pop metal, was a successful return to the music scene for Frehley. The album peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 (selling nearly 500,000 copies[1]), and the single, "Rock Soldiers," reached #27 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Rock Soldiers" was an autobiographic song, written partially about Frehley's April 1982 car accident. The video for "Rock Soldiers" received moderate airplay on MTV, particularly on Headbangers Ball.
Despite the positive reviews and healthy album sales of Frehley's Comet, Frehley was unable to maintain much commercial momentum. Two 1988 Frehley's Comet albums—the live EP Live+1 and second studio album Second Sighting peaked at #84 and #81, respectively. A pair of tours in support of Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden ended prematurely, with the band claiming lack of payment in both cases.[5]
In order to reverse his band's declining commercial fortunes, Frehley dropped the Frehley's Comet moniker and issued 1989's Trouble Walkin' under his own name. Tod Howarth also decided to leave before recording started on the album, and was replaced by Richie Scarlet. Despite the return to a more traditional hard rock style, Trouble Walkin' continued the pattern of declining sales, and peaked at #102.
One notable aspect of Trouble Walkin' was the guest appearance of Peter Criss, who provided backing vocals on several tracks, along with Sebastian Bach and other members of Skid Row. It was the first time Criss and Frehley had performed together on an album since Kiss's 1979 album, Dynasty, although Peter had shown up briefly at a Frehley's Comet show in Los Angeles in 1987, playing drums on a final encore of "Deuce". Frehley would return the favor by playing solos on Peter's 'CRISS' "Cat #1" CD on TNT Records, released in 1994. In contrast to the somewhat adversarial relationship Frehley had with Kiss (particularly Gene Simmons) throughout the 1980s, he and Criss had maintained good ties during the decade. In June 1995, Frehley's and Criss's bands embarked on the "Bad Boys Tour." The shows ended with Frehley and Criss joining each other to perform "2,000 Man", "Beth", "Nothin' to Lose" and "Rock and Roll All Nite."[