The famous co-founder of the now legendary group Kiss Gene Simmons achieved popularity in the seventies. He managed to amaze the audience not only with his excellent bass guitar, but also with his eccentric image.
The demonic image chosen by the musician turned Jin into a rock icon of that time. Now such a move is a rarity. But in the hearts of fans of hard rock, he remained forever.
Poor childhood and difficult youth
Chaim Witz was born on August 25 in Israel, in Tirat Karmel in 1948. When the boy was a baby, Florence Klein, his mother, parted with Feri Vice, the child's father.
In search of a better life, the mother decided to leave the country with her eight-year-old son. New York gave Haim a new name. He became known as Eugene Klein. True, the musician subsequently replaced him with the more sonorous Gene Simmons.
There were a lot of difficulties in the new place. I was oppressed by the lack of knowledge of the language. Eugene did not speak English. He had to be taught all day in a Jewish school.
The mother sent her son there to protect the child from trouble. The woman worked the whole day. A year later, the son went to an American school, where he became interested in comics.
They had a significant impact on the future Kiss frontman. And later they significantly influenced his stage image.
Simmons drew comics by hand himself. The classmates really liked them.
On the road to glory
In his youth, the future celebrity was engaged only in activities that bring at least some kind of profit. Jin tried to help the laboring mother.
Then the boy decided to become famous and get rich. The true calling was revealed at fourteen.
In February 1964, the teenager got to the Beatles concert. The brilliant music of the four amazed the boy so much that he seriously took up his own creativity.
The musician left more than one group at the very beginning of the journey. After playing the Lynx and The Sounds of Long Island, Gene gave up his regular guitar.
The young man chose the bass and immediately stood out. In the early seventies, Gene met Stanley Eisen or Paul Stanley. Wicked Lester became a joint project.
The first album was recorded with a strong line-up. The vice president of Epic Record did not approve of the young musicians' material. The contract was never signed.
Successful project
The refusal to release the album greatly upset the team. But the guys decided not to give up. Together with Paul Stanley, Jean created a new group with a catchy unusual image, aggressive music and the name Kiss. In addition to the co-founders, the lineup included Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. The image turned out to be unique.
It was largely determined by the look of seventies shock rocker Alice Cooper. The musicians were simply raving about his work. As a result, it was not ordinary boys who took the stage, but “Cat Man”, “Star Child”, “Demon” and “Space Ace”.
The idea did not disappoint. The defiantly attractive make-up, coupled with shocking costumes and a spectacular show, plus aggressive music, turned the guys into favorites of the planet. The Demon chosen by Simmons became especially recognizable. With a significant, almost two meters in height, Jin put on boots made of silvery scales and dragon heads with fiery eyes on the capes, with huge heels and turned into a giant.
The bass player complemented the image with a massive armored breastplate and spiked shoulder pads. The back was adorned with leathery wings, and the face was covered with black and white makeup. The shock image was completed by a guitar in the shape of an ax or an ace of spades. The musician fastened his blue-black hair in a bun.
Once, during the Fire Breath stunt, Simmons set fire to his own hair. They managed to extinguish the "demon", but the guitarist decided to take care of himself. Gene managed to soar up on the cables and spit "blood" from juices with yoghurts and food colors. Everything looked creepy.
The masks are half off
Simmons is also remembered by fans for the length of his tongue. The musician loved to demonstrate it at all concerts. In 2013, the frontman wrote the book "Kiss: The Demon Takes Off the Mask."
In it, he told about the difficult life of a rock musician. The fame of a sex addict and hero-lover Simmons was not going to deny.
Fans were shocked by the number of his girlfriends: 4600. Each was captured on the Polaroid. True, the collection was stolen from the guitarist's room. Both drugs and alcohol were replaced by girls.
The book revealed complex relationships within the group. And the star calls itself a generator of ideas. Jin's compositions have always stood out.
He accepted all styles. Therefore, the critics call their creativity versatile and intellectual.
Personal life
The musician managed to star in a movie. In the eighties, due to the fall in popularity, the selected masks had to be parted. As a result, Gene did not become a Hollywood celebrity. But he was in the role of an Arab terrorist who organized several explosions in Los Angeles.
The frontman produced aspiring rock bands, hosted the show Mr. Romance, created a series about a rock school and his own reality show. Simmons managed to set up the production of bars in the form of coffins with the logo of Kiss and a men's magazine.
The bass player also managed to work as a school teacher. In class, he used the Spider-Man comics, sang The Beatles songs and shocked all his colleagues.
The musician did not recognize legal marriage. But he found a happy love in the face of the model and actress Shannon Tweed. The couple have two children, Nicholas and Sophie. But Simmons changed his position, and in 2011 the chosen one became his official wife. The public saw the event during a celebrity reality show.
Regardless of the type of activity, Jin never forgets about Kiss. Even though the line-up was constantly changing, even though the time of great fame has passed, the famous bass player with his constant partner Paul Stanley, even after almost half a century since the founding of their project, continue to create music.
