Lee Zimmerman | New Times

You can’t miss Kiss. There are Kiss comics, Kiss coffins, Kiss movies, Kiss condoms, Kiss trading cards, Kiss radios, Kiss record players… Well, just about anything you can put the word Kiss on has the word Kiss on it. The responsibility for this marketing strategy mostly lies with Gene Simmons, the band’s singer, bassist, entrepreneur, reality TV star, shameless self-promoter, and co-commander of the mighty Kiss army. Born in Haifa, Israel, on August 25, 1949, Simmons has spent his entire adult life eagerly expanding the band’s imprint and making a mint in the process.

Indeed, from the time the band was formed in 1974 (following the first band he and musical partner Paul Stanley played in, Wicked Lester), the Kiss shtick has played as important a part as their music. Stanley’s role as the fire-breathing, platform-booted Demon has given him a successful alter-ego, he’s also quite a character in real life. This fact became all the more obvious when the band temporarily shed their makeup in the early ’80s. Of course, abandoning their trademark personas sort of undermined the whole Kiss concept to begin with, because really, what’s Kiss without the kitsch?

As a result, Simmons turned himself into rock’s version of P.T. Barnum, unabashedly hawking himself as much as he does the Kiss grab-bag. That’s made him a very public persona, especially due to the series of reality shows that boast his name. The most successful of those, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, took its cue from The Osbornes, showing that when they’re home, a heavy metal rocker is pretty much just like the rest of us — harried, humble and wealthy beyond belief. Okay, maybe that last part creates a divide. Still, the ability to see Simmons putting his private life on display for seven seasons proved irresistible to more than a million viewers a week and helped make him a regular presence on cable TV.

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