Regarded as one of the most influential rock and roll bands of all-time, KISS holds honors as one of America's top gold record champions, recording 37 albums over 36 years and selling over 100 million albums worldwide. Record-breaking tours around the globe include high-profile appearances at Super Bowl XXXIII, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the 2005 Rockin' The Corps concert dedicated to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and most recently, the 2009 American Idol Finale before thirty million viewers.Formed in the early 1970s, KISS was the brainchild of Gene Simmons (bass, vocals) and Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar, vocals), former members of the New York-based hard rock band Wicked Lester. The duo then brought in drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley. The band released their self-titled debut in February of 1974; it peaked at #87 on the U.S. charts.
Decked out in outrageously flamboyant costumes and makeup, KISS fashioned a stage show featuring dry ice, smoke bombs, elaborate lighting, blood spitting and fire breathing that captured the imaginations of thousands. The band’s music was a commercially potent mix of anthemic, fist-pounding hard rock driven by sleek hooks and ballads powered by loud guitars and melodies. It was a sound that laid the groundwork for both arena rock and the pop-metal that would later dominate the rock and roll scene for years to come.
Sensing it was time for a change, KISS dispensed with their makeup for 1983's “Lick It Up”. The publicity worked, as the album became their first platinum record in four years. Other releases and personnel changes followed for the rest of the decade and KISS continued to turn out best-selling albums, culminating in the early 1990 hit ballad "Forever" - their biggest single since "Beth." "Revenge" (1992) was a Top Ten hit and went gold. "Alive III" followed the next year.
In 1996, the original lineup of KISS -- featuring Simmons, Stanley, Frehley and Criss -- reunited to perform an international tour, complete with their notorious makeup and special effects. The tour was one of the most successful of 1996, and in 1998 the reunited group issued "Psycho Circus". The quartet announced in the spring of 2000 that they would be launching a U.S. farewell tour. But, on the eve of a Japanese and Australian tour in early 2001, Criss suddenly left the band, once again. Despite discord in the band, KISS kept touring. In 2008 they returned to the studio, re-recorded their hits, and released "Jigoku-Retsuden" aka KISSology or KISS Klassics. The release was exclusive to Japan until a year later when it became a bonus disc for the band's first studio album in 11 years, "Sonic Boom".
The KISS legacy continues to grow, generation after generation. The unparalleled devotion and loyalty of the KISS Army to the "Hottest Band in the World" is a striking testament to the band's unbreakable bond with its fans.
KISS will be at the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida on Thursday March 17, 2011.
