Ace Frehley

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Ace Frehley showed up to an audition above the Live Bait Bar in New York City wearing one red sneaker and one orange sneaker. Waiting for him were Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss, who needed a lead guitarist. Frehley was born in 1951, became the original lead guitarist of Kiss, and died in 2025. This documentary asks how a boy from the Bronx found his place in that band, and what he built outside it. It asks why he left, why he came back, and why he stayed away when the band set out on its farewell tour.

  225172513

• 2. The Bronx Boy

  ›

  Paul Daniel Frehley was born on the 27th of April 1951 in the Bronx, the youngest of three children. His father, Carl, was an electrical engineer and the son of Dutch immigrants. His mother, Esther, was of German and Cherokee descent.

  Both of Frehley's parents played piano, and his brother and sister played piano and acoustic guitar. Christmas of 1964 brought him an electric guitar, and he began playing at the age of 13. In his own words, "I never went to music school; I never took a guitar lesson, but everybody in my family plays an instrument." His heroes included Jimi Hendrix, Albert Lee, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck and B. B. King. He also named Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and The Who. More than once he credited Peppy Castro of the Blues Magoos as a major influence.

  At 13 he also joined a local street gang, though the gang lost its grip on him as music gained one. He was expelled from several high schools. He finally dropped out for good once his band Cathedral started landing gigs. His girlfriend and family then persuaded him to go back and finish, and he earned his diploma. During those years his friends gave him the nickname Ace, because they thought he was "a real ace" at getting dates.

  Seeing The Who and Cream play live as a teenager confirmed that music could be his profession. He later claimed that it saved him from gang life. Before a football injury, he had also been a keen athlete.

  At 18, Frehley worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix. After graduating he drifted through short-term jobs as a mail carrier, furniture deliverer, messenger, taxi driver and liquor store delivery person. The taxi would turn out to matter again soon.

  69221882

• 3. The Spaceman

  ›

  Molimo was the band that took Frehley closest to a record deal in the early 1970s. It signed with RCA Records, and in 1971 it recorded half an album for the label. Earlier bands had names like the Outrage, the Four Roses, King Kong, the Magic People and Honey, a cover band.

  In late 1972 his friend Chris Cassone spotted an advertisement for a lead guitarist in The Village Voice and showed it to him. About three weeks after the audition, the band named Frehley as its guitarist. By January 1973 the group had settled on the name Kiss.

  Frehley designed the double-lightning-bolt logo, and Stanley polished it. The band quickly decided to paint their faces for live shows. Frehley chose to paint silver stars around his eyes. When the members adopted full stage personas to match their makeup and costumes, he became Space Ace, later also known as the Spaceman. He said the character grew out of his interest in science fiction and space travel.

  While Kiss rehearsed and played to empty clubs, Frehley worked part-time as a cab driver to pay his bills. In September 1973 Bill Aucoin began managing the band, and Frehley quit his cab job.

  2120222836

• 4. Smoke and Sparks

  ›

  John Elder Robison, an audio engineer working with the band and known as "Ampie," designed and built Frehley's best-known guitar. It was a Gibson Les Paul Custom, and it filled the stage with smoke during his solos. The smoke came from the DiMarzio pickup at the neck. Another Les Paul sent out spinning pyrotechnics, and a custom model glowed in time with the tempo of a song.

  In the book Kiss: Behind the Mask, Frehley said that many guitarists had told him the 1975 album Alive! made them pick up the instrument. His playing was frenetic, aggressive and atmospheric, yet melodic. Through the 1970s that style made him one of the most popular guitarists around and spawned a generation of new players.

  The technique behind the sound was unorthodox. "I play guitar in such an unorthodox way," he told Guitar World in 1996. He said an assistant once pointed out that his thumb sometimes rests on the fretted side of the neck while he plays chords. "I have no idea why or how I do it, but I do," he said. Paul Stanley remembered that early on, Frehley made vibrato by shaking his whole arm against the neck.

  In a 2009 interview with Rock N Roll Experience Magazine, Frehley called himself "an anomaly." He said he was an unschooled musician who could not read music yet was one of the most famous guitar players in the world. That same year he released a solo album titled Anomaly.

  In 2014 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Kiss. Guitar World magazine ranked him among the greatest metal guitarists of all time.

  262083822

• 5. Outvoted

  ›

  Kiss released its debut album in February 1974, and Frehley was credited with two songs. One was "Love Theme from Kiss," the only song co-written by all four original members. The other was "Cold Gin," now a fan classic. Frehley doubted his own singing voice, so Simmons sang both.

  Frehley did not sing on a record until "Shock Me," which appeared on 1977's Love Gun. The song was inspired by the time he nearly electrocuted himself during a concert in Lakeland, Florida.

  In 1978 each of the four members released a solo album at the same time. Frehley's sold best of the four and reached platinum status. Its only single was "New York Groove," written by Russ Ballard and first recorded by the band Hello. It reached the Top 20 in the United States.

  His songwriting role kept growing. He contributed three songs to 1979's Dynasty and three more to 1980's Unmasked. Those albums sold modestly in the United States, but they became the band's biggest sellers in Australia. In 1981 a star was named after him in the International Star Registry.

  By then Frehley often disagreed with the band's direction. Criss was voted out of Kiss in 1980. Replacement drummer Eric Carr was not a partner in the band and had no vote, so Frehley was frequently outvoted 2-1. He played far less on 1981's Music from "The Elder," partly because he disliked the decision to make a concept album instead of a straightforward rock record.

  In 1982 he decided to leave, and he declined to sign a $15 million contract. He later explained: "We were just constantly busy, and the drugs and the alcohol and all the partying in conjunction with that type of schedule just started to get to me." He added that by the early 1980s he wanted to jump off the roller coaster because he thought he was going to crash.

  His face still appeared on the covers of Killers and Creatures of the Night, both from 1982. He had no involvement in Killers, and he gave Creatures of the Night no musical input. His last appearances with the band were in the video for "I Love It Loud," some European promotional appearances in November 1982, and an MTV interview marking the band's 10th anniversary world tour.

  2023222830

• 6. Frehley's Comet

  ›

  In December 1982 Kiss began its Creatures of the Night tour with Vinnie Vincent in Frehley's place. Frehley kept a one-quarter share of the Kiss partnership until 1985. That meant he collected a quarter of the profits from Lick It Up and Animalize, though he played no part in either record.

  In 1984 he started building his own band. Drummer Anton Fig had played on Frehley's 1978 solo album and on two Kiss albums. Bassist John Regan had worked with Peter Frampton and had met Frehley in 1980. Richie Scarlet on vocals and guitar and Arthur Stead on keyboards completed the early lineup. The group's name switched between Ace Frehley and Frehley's Comet. It recorded demos through 1984 and 1985, played its first show at S.I.R. Studios in New York City on the 30th of November 1984, and then played a handful of Northeast dates in March 1985.

  After several failed attempts to land a recording deal, the band signed to Megaforce Records. Its first album, Frehley's Comet, came out on the 7th of July 1987. Eddie Kramer co-produced it, having worked on several Kiss albums, Frehley's 1978 record and some of his 1984-85 demos. Fig had become the drummer on David Letterman's late-night television show and could not commit to touring. Tod Howarth had replaced Scarlet, and Stead was gone.

  The album blended hard rock and pop metal. It reached No. 43 on the Billboard 200 and sold nearly 500,000 copies. The single "Into the Night," a Russ Ballard cover, reached No. 27 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Rock Soldiers" was partly autobiographical, drawing on an April 1982 police chase in White Plains, New York, when Frehley was driving a DeLorean with a friend. Its video received moderate airplay on MTV, especially on Headbangers Ball.

  The momentum faded anyway. In 1988 the live EP Live+1 reached No. 84, and the studio album Second Sighting reached No. 81. Tours supporting Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden both ended early, with the band claiming it had not been paid. Frehley dropped the Comet name and released Trouble Walkin' in 1989 under his own name. It peaked at No. 102. After John Regan quit following an April 1990 show in Las Vegas, Frehley did not perform live for two years, until July 1992.

  Trouble Walkin' featured a guest vocalist from the old days. Peter Criss sang backing vocals on several tracks, alongside Sebastian Bach and other members of Skid Row. It was the first time Criss and Frehley had worked together on an album since Dynasty in 1979. Frehley returned the favor with solos on Criss's 1994 album Cat 1. Through the 1980s his dealings with Kiss, and with Simmons in particular, were adversarial, but his ties to Criss held firm. In June 1995 their bands toured together on the Bad Boys Tour, and soon afterward Kiss reunited.

  3437353385

• 7. Reunions and Refusals

  ›

  In 1996 Frehley rejoined Kiss for a reunion tour on which all four original members played together again. The band then announced a new studio album, Psycho Circus. Frehley's and Criss's involvement turned out to be minimal. His only contributions were "Into the Void" and "You Wanted the Best," and the first is believed to be the only song all four original members played on. After the farewell tour ended in late 2001, he left the band again.

  On the 25th of May 2006 Frehley joined Rob Zombie, Slash, Gilby Clarke, Scott Ian and Tommy Lee at the VH1 Rock Honors in Las Vegas. Together they played the Kiss song "God of Thunder."

  In October 2018 Frehley and guitarist Bruce Kulick joined Kiss on the Kiss Kruise. Six musicians played "2,000 Man," "New York Groove," "Nothin' to Lose" and "Rock and Roll All Nite." It was the first time Frehley had played with the band since the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

  Kiss's final tour began on the 31st of January 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia, without Frehley. Stanley said he was "open to the idea" of guest spots for Frehley and Criss. Simmons later invited Frehley to play encores, but Frehley declined and doubted the band would really stop touring. In a June 2022 interview with Chaoszine, Simmons said that he and Stanley had met with Frehley. According to Simmons, Frehley made demands about his makeup and about guitarist Tommy Thayer not playing encores, and those demands could not be met.

  The A&E documentary Biography: Kisstory aired on the 27th and the 28th of June 2021. Simmons said he invited Frehley and Criss to take part. He said both replied that they might, if they had complete control of the edit. Simmons told Chaoszine, "The answer is no, both of them."

  Frehley told a different story. He said he would have appeared at the final New York shows for $250,000 per show, even with Thayer also in Spaceman makeup. He denied that he and Criss had been invited at all, saying Stanley and Simmons "just said that to sell tickets."

  He kept making records. His 2024 album 10,000 Volts debuted at No. 72 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 13,000 units. It topped the Billboard Hard Music and Rock Album charts, and it reached No. 2 on the Independent chart. A follow-up, Origins Vol. 3, was planned for release in 2025.

  4143602963

• 8. The Last Chapter

  ›

  Frehley started drinking at 13 and struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse for decades. He became sober in 2006, after a worrying call from his daughter sent him to his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. He had married Jeanette Trerotola in 1976, and their daughter, Monique, was born in 1980. They legally separated in 1985 but stayed married until his death.

  His autobiography, No Regrets - A Rock 'N' Roll Memoir, appeared on the 1st of November 2011. Joe Layden and John Ostrosky co-wrote it with him, and Gallery Books published it. It entered The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction at No. 10.

  On the 25th of September 2025, Frehley suffered a minor fall in his home studio. He was hospitalized and canceled tour dates. One week later, on the 2nd of October, he fell down a flight of stairs at home and severely injured his head. On the 16th of October TMZ reported that he was on a ventilator with brain bleeding. His family considered taking him off life support after his condition failed to improve. He died in Morristown, New Jersey, at the age of 74, several hours after life support was stopped.

  Stanley and Simmons issued a joint statement calling him an "essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history." Criss said that Frehley "influenced and touched the hearts of millions of people."

  A private memorial service took place at Sinatra Memorial Home in Yonkers on the 21st of October. The three remaining original members of Kiss were among the small group of family and friends who attended. As he had wished, Frehley was buried near his parents at Woodlawn Cemetery. On the 7th of December 2025, less than two months after his death, he was among the former Kiss members honored posthumously at the Kennedy Center Honors.

  2281707167