Peter Criss
Peter Criss during the 1995 convention tour
Background information
Birth name	George Peter John Criscuola
Also known as	"The Catman"
Born	(1945-12-20) December 20, 1945 (age 66) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, pop rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Drums, percussion, vocals
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Casablanca, Mercury
Associated acts	Kiss, Wicked Lester, Chelsea
Website	www.petercriss.net

George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known as Peter Criss, is an American drummer and singer, best known as the original drummer for the rock band Kiss. Criss established the "Catman" character for his Kiss persona.

In 2012 he was inducted into Modern Drummer's Drum Hall Of Fame.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Of Italian-American descent, Criss is the oldest of the five children of Joseph and Loretta Criscuola; he grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York.^[1] He was a childhood friend of Jerry Nolan, who would later find success as the drummer for the New York Dolls.^{[citation needed]}

He was an avid art student and a jazz aficionado.^{[citation needed]} While playing with bandleader Joey Greco, Criss ended up studying under his idol, Gene Krupa, at the Metropole Club in New York.^{[citation needed]} This blossomed into an active musical career as he went on to play jazz and rock with a number of bands in New York and New Jersey throughout the 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

Chelsea[link]

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Criss was involved with a number of bands throughout the mid-to-late 1960s. It was during this time that Criss joined Chelsea, who had a two-album deal with Decca Records; the group released a self-titled album in 1970. They never recorded a second album, and in August 1971 became Lips (a trio consisting of Criss and his Chelsea bandmates Michael Benvenga and Stan Penridge). By the spring of 1973, Lips was just the duo of Criss and Penridge.

Kiss[link]

After the demise of his band Lips, Criss placed an advertisement in the East Coast edition of Rolling Stone, which read:

EXPD. ROCK & roll drummer looking for orig. grp. doing soft & hard music. Peter, Brooklyn.

The Catman

^{[citation needed]}

Contrary to the story that has been recited by fans and the band for years, there was never an ad placed that said "Drummer willing to do anything to make it."^[2] The advertisement was answered by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, who were looking for new members for their band. Ace Frehley was added to the lineup in December 1972, and the band was named Kiss later that month.^{[citation needed]} However, as Gene Simmons describes first meeting Criss in his book 'Kiss And Make-Up' "One afternoon I run across an ad in Rolling Stone that said "Drummer available - Will do anything." I called the guy on the telephone, and even though he was in the middle of a party, he took my call. I introduced myself and said we were starting a band and that the band was looking for a drummer, and was he willing to do anything to make it? He says that he was, right away." Simmons later in the chapter describes going to a small Italian Club in Brooklyn to meet the drummer "The drummer started to sing, and this Wilson Pickett-style voice came out of him. Paul and I said "That's it, that's our drummer." His name was Peter Criscuola."^{[citation needed]}

Kiss released their self-titled debut in February 1974. Throughout his Kiss career, Criss was lead vocalist on several notable songs including "Black Diamond", "Hard Luck Woman", and their breakthrough hit "Beth". Many of Criss' contributions to Kiss were written with the help of Stan Penridge, who was a bandmate of Criss' in Chelsea and Lips.

Criss was featured on the album sleeve for the 1979 comedy record Lenny and the Squigtones, collection of novelty songs by Michael McKean and David L. Lander, performing as their Laverne & Shirley personas of Lenny and Squiggy.^{[citation needed]} Criss was billed as drummer "Ming the Merciless," and appeared without his Kiss makeup,^[3] although he did not play drums on the album.^{[citation needed]}

Criss is given co-writer credit for the ballad "Beth", a Top 10 #7 hit for Kiss in 1976. The song remains the highest-charting song for Kiss in the USA and it earned them a People's Choice Award for "Young People's Favorite New Song" in 1977, tied with "Disco Duck". The song was written before Criss had joined Kiss, while he was still a member of Chelsea. Criss came up with the melody for the song while on a train to New York City from New Jersey where the band practiced. He and Chelsea guitarist Stan Penridge wrote the song together. "^[4]

A bootleg exists of the song from 1971,^{[citation needed]} but the song's title was "Beck", after fellow band member Mike Brand's wife, Becky, who would call often during practices to ask Mike when he was coming home.^{[citation needed]} Years later, while in Kiss, both Bob Ezrin and Gene Simmons are credited for changing the song's title to "Beth".^{[citation needed]} The song was said to be a tribute to Criss' wife Lydia Di Leonardo; according to interviews with Criss, he changed some of the lyrics to reflect Lydia's lamenting that she missed him while on tour, but the song actually originated years earlier.^{[citation needed]}

Along with "Beth", other songs he sang as a member of Kiss were "Black Diamond", "Hard Luck Woman", "Dirty Livin'", "Nothin' to Lose", "Mainline", "Strange Ways", "Getaway", "Baby Driver", "Hooligan", "Kissin' Time" and "I Finally Found My Way", with only the first being a live staple for every tour during his time with Kiss; "Dirty Livin'", "Baby Driver", "Hooligan" and "Beth" are the only ones he co-wrote (Paul Stanley wrote "Black Diamond", "Hard Luck Woman", "Mainline" and "I Finally Found My Way"; Ace Frehley wrote "Strange Ways" and "Getaway", and Gene Simmons wrote "Nothin' to Lose").^{[citation needed]}

Departure from Kiss[link]

Although he was always credited as drummer, 1977's Love Gun and Alive II were the last Kiss albums on which he played throughout.^{[citation needed]}

In 1978, Criss was injured in a serious car crash.^[5]

On the 1979 release Dynasty, he only played on his own composition, "Dirty Livin',"^[6] and did not play at all on 1980's Unmasked. Anton Fig, who also played on Ace Frehley's solo album (and is now David Letterman's house drummer), was hired to play on both records.

Gene Simmons has made it clear that Criss was fired; Paul Stanley too has discussed Criss' departure in several interviews, including the commentary on Kissology 2. Ace Frehley in his 2011 book, "No Regrets," also stated that Criss was fired during a band meeting in which Frehley was outvoted by Gene and Paul. Criss, however, has maintained that he quit the band. The video for "Shandi" was shot in one day, and Peter was out of the band at that time; said Stanley, "After we finished shooting, Peter packed up his things, and went home."^{[citation needed]}

Criss officially left Kiss on May 18, 1980. As a result, Kiss postponed the European tour until the end of August, thus giving the band enough time to find a replacement drummer, who they found in Brooklyn-born Eric Carr.

Solo career[link]

Although Criss officially left Kiss in May 1980, his involvement with the band had ceased by December 1979.^{[citation needed]} In March 1980, he began recording his second solo album, Out of Control.^{[citation needed]} Released later in the year, the album was a commercial failure, despite remaining a favorite with Criss fans.^{[citation needed]} The follow-up album, 1982's Let Me Rock You, which contained one song written by Gene Simmons, was a similar failure. The album cover featured Criss without his Kiss makeup, but was not released in the U.S. at the time.^{[citation needed]}

For the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s, Criss was involved with a number of bands, each usually lasting less than a year.^{[citation needed]} One of them was The Keep, which featured ex-Kiss guitarist Mark St. John.^{[citation needed]} Criss also played with Balls of Fire from the spring of 1986 to December 1986, with Jane Booke on lead vocals, Bob Raylove on bass and JP (John Pakalenka) on guitar, who currently plays for Buckner Funken Jazz in Denver, Colorado. Balls of Fire only played 7 shows before Criss left the band to enjoy his daughter Jenilee growing up.^[7] While Kiss was promoting their upcoming release Crazy Nights, Criss appeared on the syndicated radio program Metal Shop and discussed his time in Kiss from a more positive perspective than before; he also promoted the book he was writing at the time, an autobiography to-be-titled A Face without a Kiss.^{[citation needed]} He also mentioned his dream of one day opening up his own recording studio and starting his own record label, to be called Catman Records.^{[citation needed]} Criss briefly reunited with former Kiss bandmate Ace Frehley on Frehley's 1989 album Trouble Walkin' (singing and playing percussion on one track). In the early '90s, Criss assembled a band named "Criss," which would feature future Queensrÿche guitarist Mike Stone. This band released the Criss EP in December 1993 and the Cat #1 album in August 1994.^{[citation needed]} The group also supported Frehley's band on the 1995 "Bad Boys Tour."^{[citation needed]}

Return to Kiss[link]

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In 1995, Criss appeared at the official Kiss Konvention in Los Angeles that led to the Kiss live performance that was recorded for MTV Unplugged. In April 1996, Kiss held a press conference to announce a reunion tour with all four original members. The 1996–97 Alive/Worldwide Tour was an enormous success, and the reunited Kiss released a studio album, 1998's Psycho Circus. However, controversy arose when it was discovered that Criss only played drums on one track ("Into the Void," Ace Frehley's one lead vocal track). Many sources claim that Kevin Valentine performed on the rest of the drum tracks for the album. Criss did have one lead vocal, a track called "I Finally Found My Way," written by guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley and Bob Ezrin, and a co-vocal taking turns in the verses with the rest of the band for the song "You Wanted the Best".

Second and third departures[link]

Tensions arose once again between Criss and Kiss. On October 7, 2000, at the end of the band's show in North Charleston, SC, Criss destroyed his drum kit on stage.^{[citation needed]} Though fans thought it was part of the act, it was in reality an act of frustration on Criss' part.^[8] It was his last show on the tour, as he left over a contract dispute and was replaced by Eric Singer in 2001.^{[citation needed]} He rejoined the band in late 2002 and appeared on the Kiss Symphony: Alive IV DVD and CD before departure from Kiss again in March 2004.^{[citation needed]} The band had opted not to renew his contract following the Rocksimus Maximus Tour (which had them co-headlining with Aerosmith).^{[citation needed]} He was once again replaced by Singer, who assumed the "Catman" persona.

Peter Criss on Kiss performing with replacements for Ace Frehley and himself:

Personal life[link]

Since 2004, Criss has kept his public appearances to a minimum. Criss now resides in Wall Township, New Jersey.^[10] He released a solo album, titled One for All July 24, 2007, on Silvercat Records.^{[citation needed]}

Criss is a gun enthusiast, and has stated that he has a large collection of firearms with which he target-shoots, but does not hunt with, as he told host Tom Snyder during the October 31, 1979 interview of Kiss on The Tomorrow Show. This segment of the infamous interview features Criss referencing his gun collection.

According to an interview with 40º74º Magazine, Peter Criss is working on a follow-up album to One for All, and currently has 15 songs recorded for the release. Additionally, Criss is working on his autobiography.^[11]

As of November 2008, Criss has been married three times: Lydia Di Leonardo (from 1970 to 1979), former Playboy Playmate and coppertone model Debra Jensen (from 1979 to 1994) and Gigi Criss (from May 1998 to present).^{[citation needed]} Criss is the father of one daughter named Jenilee, born in 1981.^{[citation needed]}

Criss was successfully treated for breast cancer in 2008.^[12]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2010)

In the early 1990s, an urban legend circulated that Criss was a homeless alcoholic. Star Magazine published an article that appeared to lend credence to the notion. Jeffrey Scott Holland paid tribute to Criss's alleged plight by painting his portrait in an alley with a bottle in his hand, and Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold began a campaign to try to rescue Criss. Barr and Arnold had discovered a homeless man living under a bridge who had claimed to be Criss, but it was later revealed to be a hoax. The hoaxer, Christopher Dickinson, appeared with the real Criss on The Phil Donahue Show in 1991. On the same show, there was a woman who claimed to also have had an affair with Criss back in 1982, which was denied by Criss, then-wife Debra and, via telephone, ex-wife Lydia. For years afterward, the rumor still persisted that Criss was broke and sleeping on the streets. Criss later sued the Star and they settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.^{[citation needed]}

Acting[link]

In addition to playing himself in 1978's Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park and 1999's Detroit Rock City (film), Criss has appeared on two television programs in minor roles. In 1998 he appeared as "Nice Cop" on the "...Thirteen Years Later" episode of Millennium and in 2002 Criss appeared in two episodes of the HBO prison drama Oz as inmate Martin Montgomery. He also plays the role of Mike in the motion picture about the JFK assassination, Frame of Mind.^[13]

Autobiography[link]

On October 23, 2012, Peter Criss is scheduled to release his autobiography, Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of Kiss^[14]. The publisher, Simon & Schuster, reports that Peter's life goes "from sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll to multiple brushes with death, Makeup to Breakup will be Peter Criss' unvarnished and eye-opening life story". Peter teamed up with author Larry Sloman to write the autobiography. The book is to trace Peter's life from the streets of New York City to his battle with breast cancer^[15]

Drum kit[link]

Criss has played Zildjian cymbals, Pro-Mark sticks, Drum Workshop drums and Remo drum heads^[16]

Bass drum:

• 18" X 22"

Rack Toms:

• 5" X 8"
• 6" X 8"
• 7" X 8"
• 8" X 8"
• 13 X 15"
• 8" X 10"
• 9" X 12"
• 10" X 13"

Floor Toms:

• 11" X 14"
• 15" X 16"
• 16" X 18"

Snare:

• 6" X 14" edge snare
• 4" X 12" edge snare

Cymbals:

• 20" medium ride
• 19" medium crash
• 12" fast splash
• 18" medium crash
• 15" new beat hi-hats
• 16" medium crash
• 18" medium thin crash
• 19" medium thin crash
• 17" medium crash
• 16" medium thin crash

Discography[link]

Chelsea[link]

• Chelsea (1970)

Kiss[link]

• Kiss (1974)
• Hotter Than Hell (1974)
• Dressed to Kill (1975)
• Alive! (1975)
• Destroyer (1976)
• Rock and Roll Over (1976)
• Love Gun (1977)
• Alive II (1977)
• Double Platinum (1978)
• Dynasty (1979)^[17]
• Unmasked (1980) |*|
• Kiss Unplugged (1996)
• Psycho Circus (1998)^[18]
• Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (2003)

|*|credited in the album liner notes, but does not appear

Solo[link]

• Peter Criss (September 18, 1978)
• Out of Control (September 1980)
• Let Me Rock You (May 1982)
• Criss (December 1993)
• Cat #1 (August 16, 1994)
• One for All (July 24, 2007)

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

• Peter Criss - The official website
• Interview with Peter Criss
• Second interview with Peter Criss
• Billboard.com article by Greg Prato

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since August 2011. It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Tagged since August 2011.

Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons on stage with Kiss, 2010
Background information
Birth name	Chaim Weitz ( /ˈxɑːjɪm/; ‏Hebrew: חיים ויץ‎)
Also known as	"The Demon"
Born	(1949-08-25) August 25, 1949 (age 62) Tirat HaCarmel, Israel
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, actor, entrepreneur
Instruments	Bass, vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	1960–present
Associated acts	Kiss, Wicked Lester
Website	www.genesimmons.com
Notable instruments
Cort Signature GS-1 Gene Simmons Signature model

Gene Simmons (born Chaim Weitz Hebrew: חיים ויץ‎; August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American rock bassist, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and actor. Known as "The Demon", he is the bassist/co-vocalist of Kiss, a hard rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s. Kiss has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Chaim Weitz (later Gene Simmons) was born at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel in 1949. Mother and child emigrated to Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City when he was eight years old.^[1] His mother Flóra "Florence" Klein (formerly Kovács) was born in Jánd, Hungary. The German name Klein (means: small) is sometimes used informally in Hungarian as Kis, this however, did not give the band its name.^[2] Florence and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. Simmons' father, Feri Witz, also Hungarian-born, remained in Israel, where he had one other son and three daughters. Simmons says the family was "dirt poor," scraping by on bread and milk.^[3] In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Eugene Klein (later Gene Klein), adopting his mother's maiden name. He was a part of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a child, from 7 am to 9:30 pm^[4]

Kiss[link]

Simmons became involved with his first band, Lynx, then renamed The Missing Links, when he was a teenager. Eventually, he disbanded The Missing Links to form The Long Island Sounds, the name being a play on words relating to the estuary separating Long Island from Westchester County, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. While he played in these bands, he kept up odd jobs on the side to make more money, including trading used comic books. Simmons attended Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake, New York. He then joined a new band, Bullfrog Bheer, and the band recorded a demo, "Leeta"; this was later included on the Kiss box set.

Gene Simmons fire breathing.

Simmons formed the rock band Wicked Lester in the early 1970s with Stanley Harvey Eisen (now known as Paul Stanley) and recorded one album, which was never released. Dissatisfied with Wicked Lester's sound and look, Simmons and Stanley attempted to fire their band members; they were met with resistance, and they quit Wicked Lester, walking away from their record deal with Epic Records. They decided to form the ultimate rock band, and started looking for a drummer. Simmons and Stanley found an ad placed by Peter Criscoula, known as Peter Criss, who was playing clubs in Brooklyn at the time; they joined and started out as a trio. Paul Frehley, better known as Ace Frehley, responded to an ad they put in The Village Voice for a lead guitar player, and soon joined them. Kiss released its self-titled debut album in February 1974. Stanley took on the role of lead performer on stage, while Simmons became the driving force behind what became an extensive Kiss merchandising franchise. The eye section of his "Vampire" makeup with KISS came from the wing design of comic book character Black Bolt.^[5]

In 1983, while Kiss' fame was waning, the members took off their trademark make-up and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity that continued into the 1990s. At this time, Peter Criss the original drummer quit the band, and a replacement was sought to fill the drummers vacancy. The drummer that did so, was Paul Charles Caravello, who went by the stage name of Eric Carr, and played for KISS from 1980 until his early death at the age of 41 in 1991. The band hosted their own fan conventions throughout 1995, and fan feedback about the original Kiss members reunion influenced the highly successful 1996–1997 Alive Worldwide reunion tour. In 1998, the band released Psycho Circus. Since then, the original line-up has once again dissolved, with Tommy Thayer replacing Ace Frehley on lead guitar and Eric Singer (who performed with Kiss from 1992 up through 1996) replacing Peter Criss on drums.

Stage makeup and persona[link]

During an interview in 1999, Simmons was asked about the source and significance of Kiss' stage makeup and personas:

I've always been a fan of Americana, and Americana has always been about imagery, often above content. I think there's nothing wrong with that. The world worships this culture. Most people only think about America in terms of rock & roll, movies and television. Kiss is very all-American, in the sense that our constituency has never had anything in common with critics . . . because our power, our lifeblood, our very reason for existence is our fans. Without them, we'd be nothing. Rock & roll is, in fact, all about gimmicks. Most people love gimmicks. I love gimmicks — Jerry Lee Lewis getting up and playing the piano with his foot. I love all of it — anything that puts on a show, where the performer makes a spectacle of himself — and that's everything we've ever been devoted to. If people think of Kiss as performers first and musicians or anything else later, that's wonderful. It's the most boring thing to be known as a musician, because those guys eventually wind up playing Holiday Inns.^[6]

Gene Simmons without make-up.

Political views[link]

Simmons was a supporter of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration.^[7] He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, writing on his website: "I'm ashamed to be surrounded by people calling themselves liberal who are, in my opinion, spitting on the graves of brave American soldiers who gave their life to fight a war that wasn't theirs...in a country they've never been to... simply to liberate the people therein".^[8] In a follow-up, Simmons explained his position and wrote about his love and support for the United States: "I wasn't born here. But I have a love for this country and its people that knows no bounds. I will forever be grateful to America for going into World War II, when it had nothing to gain, in a country that was far away... and rescued my mother from the Nazi German concentration camps. She is alive and I am alive because of America. And, if you have a problem with America, you have a problem with me".^[8]

During the 2006 Lebanon War between Israel and Lebanon, Simmons sent a televised message of support (in both English and Hebrew) to an Israeli soldier seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon, calling him his "hero".^[9]

In 2010, Simmons said he regretted voting for Barack Obama and criticized the 2009 health care reforms.^[10] Following Obama's 2011 Mideast speech, in which the President called on Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a settlement "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps,"^[11] Simmons told CNBC that Obama was gravely misguided. "If you have never been to the moon, you can't issue policy about the moon. For the president to be sitting in Washington D.C. and saying, 'Go back to your '67 borders in Israel' – how about you live there and try to defend an indefensible border – nine miles wide?" Simmons also accused the United Nations of being "the most pathetic body on the face of the earth."^[12]

During his visit to Israel in 2011, he stated that the artists refusing to perform in Israel for political reasons are "stupid," referring to artists who canceled planned concerts in Israel.^[13]

In an April 2012 interview, Simmons endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for President, stating as well that "America should be in business and it should be run by a businessman."^[14]

Personal life[link]

He became a science fiction fan and published several science fiction fanzines, among them Sirruish, Id, Cosmos (which eventually merged with Stilletto to become Cosmos-Stilletto and then Faun), Tinderbox, Sci-Fi Showcase, Mantis and Adventure. He also contributed to other fanzines, among them BeABohema.^[15]

In the late 1960s, he changed his name to Gene Simmons, after legendary rockabilly performer Jumpin' Gene Simmons.^[16] Simmons' legal name after arriving from Israel is Gene Klein.

Simmons lives in Beverly Hills, California with former Playboy Playmate and actress Shannon Tweed whom he had dated for 28 years. He often joked that he and Tweed were "happily unmarried" for over 20 years. He often stated, "Marriage is an institution, and I don't want to live in an institution." Simmons and Tweed finally wed on October 1, 2011, at the historic Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.^[17][18] They have two children: a son, Nick (born January 22, 1989), and a daughter, Sophie Alexandra (born July 7, 1992). He formerly had live-in relationships with Cher and Diana Ross.^[1] Simmons can speak English, German, Hungarian and Hebrew.^[1]

Homecoming visit to Israel[link]

In March 2011, Simmons visited Israel, where he was born. He described the trip as a "life changing experience". He talked about how he still feels that he is an Israeli: "I'm Israeli. I'm a stranger in America. I'm an outsider".^[19] While there, Gene met his half-brother Kobi, and triplet half-sisters Drora, Sharon and Ogenia.^[20] Simmons has plans to bring his band, KISS, to Israel. He has always said that he is an ardent supporter of Israel.^[21] At a press conference in Israel, he spoke both Hebrew and English.^[22]

Controversy[link]

• In February 2002, Simmons was interviewed on the NPR radio show Fresh Air and asked about his claim of having had sex with 4,600 women. He told Terry Gross: "If you want to welcome me with open arms, I'm afraid you're also going to have to welcome me with open legs," paraphrasing a lyric from The Who's 1981 hit song "You Better You Bet". Gross replied: "That's a really obnoxious thing to say." At the time, Simmons refused to grant permission to NPR to make the interview available online.^[23] However, it appears in print in Gross's book All I Did Was Ask (ISBN 1-4013-0010-3) and unauthorized transcripts are available. NPR re-broadcast part of the interview in August 2007.^[24] Simmons' bandmate Paul Stanley has frequently used the phrase "... welcomed us with open arms and open legs" in onstage patter during Kiss concerts.
• In 2004, during an interview in Melbourne, Australia, while talking about Islamic extremists, Simmons described Islam as a "vile culture", saying that Muslim women had to walk behind their husbands, were not allowed to be educated or to own houses. He said: "They want to come and live right where you live and they think that you're evil." Amongst ensuing criticism, Australian Muslim of the Year Susan Carland argued that Simmons' stereotyping of Muslims was inaccurate.^[25] Simmons later clarified his comments on his website, saying he had been talking specifically about Muslim extremists.
• In 2005, Simmons was sued by a former girlfriend, Georgeann Walsh Ward, who said she had been "defamed" in the VH1 documentary When Kiss Ruled the World and portrayed as an "unchaste woman".^[26] A settlement was reached in June 2006.^[27]
• In 2007, Simmons openly spoke out against music piracy, and called for file-sharers to be sued.^[28] A year later, he threatened further lawsuits, and to withhold new recordings, if file-sharing continued.^[29] In 2010, Anonymous staged a DDoS on his Web site, prompting Simmons to hit back with provocative comments once he was back online.^[29]
• In 2011, Kiss was removed from the lineup for Michael Jackson's tribute concert because of Simmons' allegations and negative comments regarding Jackson's personal life and legal issues.^[30]

Instruments[link]

Gene Simmons' axe bass at the Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle, Washington

Gene Simmons has used various bass guitars during his career including:

• Axe Bass (Kramer, Jackson, B.C. Rich and now Cort)
• Punisher Bass (B.C.Rich, now made by Cort)
• Spector Gene Simmons Signature
• Pedulla Basses (mainly in the 1980s and early 1990s)
• Gibson Grabber (mainly in Kiss' early years)
• Gibson Ripper (mainly in Kiss' early years)
• Custom lebau bass (Wicked Lester, very early kiss circa 73–74)
• Cort Guitars Signature GS-1 Bass

He uses Ampeg SVT CL Series amps with 8x10 cabinets. He uses Silver Herco Flex .75 Nylon Flat Guitar Picks. He uses D'Addario EXL165 Nickel Wound Custom Light 45-105 Long Scale Bass Strings. In 2010 Gene Simmons collaborated with Cort Guitars to make his own signature bass line called the GS-AXE-2.

Film and television career[link]

Simmons has been the creative force behind such television projects as:

• My Dad the Rock Star, a cartoon by the Canadian animation company Nelvana, about the mild mannered son of a Gene Simmons-like rock star;
• Mr. Romance, a show created and hosted by Simmons on the Oxygen cable television channel;
• Rock School, a reality show in which Simmons tries to make a rock band out of a group of students of Christ's Hospital School in the first season, and in the second, a group of kids from a comprehensive school in Lowestoft;
• Gene Simmons Family Jewels,^[31] a reality show documenting the personal lives of Simmons, his wife, his son and daughter

On March 9, 2011, Simmons and Kiss co-founder Paul Stanley and E! Entertainment announced that they have finalized a production and development deal to create an as-yet-untitled comedic half-hour kids' television series.^[32] Simmons appeared as a psychic working at the Mystic Journey Bookstore in Venice, California on the American hidden camera prank TV series I Get That a Lot.^[33]

Awards and recognition[link]

On January 28, 2011, Simmons was in Dallas, Texas to host the Aces & Angels Salute to the Troops charity event. While in Dallas, Simmons was presented the key to the city in Dallas, Texas and a street, Gene Simmons Boulevard, was named for him. Simmons and Tweed also visited Ft. Hood to support the Troops as a part of the Aces & Angels event. On June 15 of the same year he was given the key to the city in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 2012, Simmons was awarded the Golden God award by the Revolver magazine.^[34]

Filmography[link]