Ace Frehley is the lead guitarist of the hard rock/heavy metal band Kiss. He joined Kiss in late 1973. Frehley walked into the auditions for the lead guitarist position, wearing one red shoe and one orange shoe. As the band was still talking to Bob Kulick, the previous person to audition, Frehley started playing his guitar to warm up his fingers. Kiss members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons threatened to throw him out, then noticed his mismatched shoes, and decided to give him a chance to audition. When the band played "Deuce" and Frehley whipped out an impressive guitar solo, Stanley and Simmons realized that they had found their guitarist. Thus, the original Kiss lineup was finally completed.
When Kiss decided to start wearing makeup on stage, Frehley became the spaceman because he was fascinated with science fiction and space travel. Though he wrote many of Kiss' classic hits, including "Cold Gin" and "Strange Ways", he was afraid to sing lead vocals, so he let either Gene Simmons or Peter Criss sing the songs he wrote.
Frehley did not sing any of his own songs until 1977, when he sang lead vocals on the song "Shock Me", from the album "Love Gun". His solo album in 1978 quickly became the best-selling of the four members' solo albums.
Frehley left Kiss in 1982 because of creative differences with Simmons and Stanley. He formed his own band, Frehley's Comet, in the mid 1980s, and signed to Atlantic/Megaforce Records.
His first album with his new band was called Frehley's Comet, released in 1987. Frehley's band consisted of Tod Howarth on guitars and vocals, John Regan on bass, and Anton Fig on drums, who had played drums with Frehley on his first solo album. The hit song "Rock Soldiers" was featured on this album.
Frehley's Comet released a mini live album titled Live + 1, in early 1988. It featured four live tracks plus one studio track, hence the name of the album.
Second Sighting (1988), featured Jamie Oldaker on drums, replacing Fig. Fig would return for the next album.
By 1989, conflicts erupted within Frehley's band, and Howarth left. Regan and Fig remained with Frehley, and Frehley released the Trouble Walkin' album under his own name. Former Kiss bandmate Peter Criss appeared on the album playing percussion. After this release, Frehley did some touring with Criss in the "Bad Boys Of Kiss" tour.
Frehley joined his old bandmates in 1996 for Kiss' "MTV Unplugged" album. He officially rejoined Kiss a few months later, and went on a huge worldwide reunion tour, which became the most popular tour of that year.
In 1998, Kiss released the "Psycho Circus" album. Frehley sang on two songs on the album, "Into The Void", which he wrote, and "In Your Face", which was a song that Gene Simmons wrote for him to sing. "In Your Face" was only featured on the Japanese version of the album. The band went back out on the road to support the album.
In 2000, Kiss went on the road for what was to be their last tour, known as "The Farewell Tour". However, all was not well within the band. In January, 2001, Peter Criss left Kiss after a contractual dispute, forcing the band to rehire Eric Singer and put him in the catman makeup for the remainder of the tour. Frehley finished "The Farewell Tour" with Kiss, then assumed that he could go back to his solo career. Then Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley announced that they would not be retiring as planned, and planned more tour dates. Frehley strongly disapproved of this action and refused to tour with Kiss anymore. Gene and Paul welcomed Peter Criss back to the band, and hoped that they could persuade Frehley to come along as well, but Frehley declined to rejoin Kiss, stating that his contract with the band ended after the completion of "The Farewell Tour", and that he didn't want to keep performing the same old songs with Kiss for the rest of his life. Thus, Kiss had no choice but to hire guitarist Tommy Thayer, a longtime supporter of the band, to wear Frehley's spaceman makeup and costume, and continue on.
Currently, Frehley is busy in his home studio, recording his first solo album in more than ten years. He seems to hold no bitterness against Kiss, but is happy to be recording his own music at his own pace. While most fans would rather see him perform with Kiss, Frehley is assuring his fans that his new solo album will be well worth the wait. It appears that Frehley has no plans to reunite with Kiss anytime soon, but only time will tell.
