Gene Simmons is The Demon: co-founder, singer and bassist in KISS. He has been in the band from its inception until the present day.
Simmons was born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel on 25 August 1949. His mother emigrated to the USA with her son in early 1958, and Chaim grew up in New York City. Once settled in the United States, Chaim changed his name to Gene Klein, the first name sounding pleasantly American and the last being his mother’s maiden name.
In 1970, Gene Klein met Stanley Eisen, and eventually the two formed a band called Wicked Lester with a group of other local musicians. When Wicked Lester failed to fulfill what Klein and Eisen had in mind for their future, they decided to form a new band and adopted the names Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. They teamed up with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley and became KISS.
Simmons invented the character of The Demon, where demonic make-up combined with fire-breathing and blood-spitting made him a powerful focal point of KISS’ live shows. He is also known for writing and singing some of the band’s greatest songs, including Deuce, Rock And Roll All Nite (co-written with Stanley), God Of Thunder (written entirely by Stanley, but sung by Simmons), Calling Dr. Love, War Machine (co-written with a young Bryan Adams) and I Love It Loud.
Simmons was also one of the chief instigators for KISS’ catastrophic turn to progressive rock with the concept album (Music From) The Elder in 1981, and became a diminished force when KISS decided to take their make-up off in the 1980s. He returned to prominence with the album Revenge in 1992, and reemerged as The Demon when KISS’ original line-up put the make-up back on in 1996.
Simmons published his autobiography in 2001, titled KISS and Make-Up.
STRANGE WAYS 