Today we celebrate the late, great Ace Frehley on his birthday!
The Space Ace, is one of the four founders of Kiss who blazed a trail through the 70’s becoming one of the biggest groups in rock history, with classic songs like “Detroit Rock City”, “Shout It Out Loud”, and “Rock & Roll All Night”. He stayed with the band till just before their unmasking, leaving in 1982 after years of substance abuse burned him out.
In the 80’s Ace would form his own band creating Frehley’s Comet and releasing 2 albums with the band, never meeting the massive success of Kiss, but gaining a cult following through the 80’s.
Ace would come back to Kiss after the surprise appearance of Peter Criss and himself during the band’s Unplugged performance, which would lead to the original four to put the makeup back on for a full blown reunion in 1996. The band would release the new album Psycho Circus, and a world stadium tour that gave old school Kiss fans one last great look at the band, and new fans that never got to experience the makeup years a chance to share in the experience.
Ace would leave once again in 2002, but still tour on his own through the 2000’s putting out new music of his own with 10,000 Volts, in 2024. Frehley would find success with the album but not get to fully tour on it as he became hospitalized after a fall in his home, which would ultimately lead to his death.
Ace was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of Kiss, and is universally known as one of the most influential guitarists of all time.