Ace Frehley, lead guitarist and co-founder of rock band Kiss, has died at the age of 74.
The musician, who inspired a generation of guitarists and played on Kiss’s first nine albums, died Thursday in a New Jersey hospital after suffering injuries in a recent fall, his family said in a statement.
“We are completely devastated and heartbroken,” Frehley’s family said. “In his final moments, we were fortunate to be able to surround him with loving, caring and peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth. We all cherish his fondest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and the kindness he extended to others.
“The magnitude of his passing is epic in scale and beyond comprehension. As we reflect on all of his incredible accomplishments, Ace’s memory will live on forever!”
Born Paul Daniel Frehley in New York in 1951, he co-founded Kiss in 1973 with singer Paul Stanley, bassist and part-time singer Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss.
After news of Frehley’s death broke, Stanley and Simmons said in a joint statement that they were “devastated.”
“He was a vital and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative chapters of the band and its history. He is and always will be part of Kiss’ legacy,” they said, paying tribute to “all those who loved him, including our fans around the world.”
Criss wrote on X: “I’m shocked!!! My friend… I love you!”
Frehley reportedly fell in his recording studio and hit his head in late September. He was hospitalized for several weeks and placed on life support after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
His injuries first forced him to cancel a concert date in California. Days later, the remainder of his 2025 tour was canceled due to “some ongoing health issues.”
When Kiss released their self-titled debut album in 1974, reviews were mostly cool, but the group quickly became famous and loved by fans for their wild concerts, black and white makeup, and leather costumes, inspired by the New York Dolls and Alice Cooper. Each member had a different character, with Frehley being the Spaceman (or “Space Ace”), Simmons the Demon, Stanley the Starchild, and Criss the Catman.
In keeping with the band’s theatricality, Frehley was known for playing a trademark modified Les Paul, designed to fill the stage with smoke during his guitar solos. He has never taken guitar lessons, stating in a 2009 interview: “I’m an anomaly, I’m an uneducated musician. I can’t read music, but I’m one of the most famous guitarists in the world, so understand.”
When all four members of Kiss released solo albums on the same day in 1978, Frehley’s was the best-selling album, with his cover of Russ Ballard’s New York Groove becoming a hit.
The band members’ faces were not revealed for over a decade; by this time, Frehley had left Kiss, having embarked on a solo career in 1982 after feeling conflicted over the direction of the group and struggling with drug addiction. “I was confused,” he would later say of this period. “I thought if I stayed in this band, I would have killed myself. I would drive home from the studio and I would drive my car into a tree.”
In 1984, Frehley formed a new band, Frehley’s Comet, which released two studio albums but failed to take off. Frehley returned to using his own name for his 1989 album Trouble Walkin’, which featured backing vocals from Criss.
Frehley joined Kiss when the original band members reunited in 1996 for a hugely successful reunion tour, and stayed until 2002. However, when Kiss went on their farewell world tour in 2022 and 2023, Frehley did not join them. In his later years, he had a contentious relationship with Simmons, who made several comments in the press about Frehley’s past drug addiction.
In 2019, when Simmons claimed that Frehley was actually fired from Kiss due to his drug use, Frehley addressed Simmons in a public statement, saying he had been sober for 12 years and left Kiss “of my own free will, because you and Paul (Stanley) are control freaks, untrustworthy, and too difficult to work with.”
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready paid tribute, recalling how he first discovered Frehley at age 11, when a friend received a Kiss lunchbox and it “changed my life.”
“All my friends spent countless hours talking about Kiss and buying Kiss stuff. Ace was a hero of mine and I would consider him a friend too. I studied his solos endlessly over the years,” McCready wrote, adding that performing with Frehley at Madison Square Garden was “a dream come true for me.”
“I wouldn’t have picked up a guitar without the influence of Ace and Kiss,” he wrote. “Tear it up Ace, you changed my life.”
Poison frontman Bret Michaels wrote on
Frehley is survived by his wife, Jeanette, and his daughter Monique.
