Born Paul Frehley in the Bronx, he faced a common dilemma: aspiring to be a guitar legend in an era brimming with talented rock guitarists.
After years of musical obscurity, his path changed when he joined Kiss and adopted the stage name Ace Frehley. He understood that raw talent alone wouldn’t secure stardom. To stand out, he embraced a theatrical approach, eagerly incorporating an array of captivating gimmicks.
During his less-than-enthusiastic high school years, Frehley honed his artistic abilities. His journey to fame truly began when he channeled these graphic design skills into crafting the iconic Kiss logo, transforming the final two letters into striking lightning bolts.
For Kiss’s debut in January 1973, when the bandmates opted for stage makeup, Frehley enthusiastically embraced the idea.
“It didn’t bother me at all,” he recounted in “Kiss: Behind the Mask,” the band’s official history. “I was always into wild things. The first night, I painted my face silver. The second night, I thought, ‘That’s boring. I’ll have to think up something more imaginative.’ I started painting stars on my eyes.”
These distinct, painted stars instantly transformed a regular club musician into the legendary Spaceman, or Space Ace. Frehley, who passed away at 74, envisioned himself as an extraterrestrial from the planet Jendell in the distant Klaatu solar system, often playfully expressing a desire to escape Earth.
His bandmates — Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss — shared his passion for integrating classic show-business theatrics into their performances. Stanley, in fact, became the band’s unofficial costume designer, crafting outfits that evoked characters straight from a vintage horror or sci-fi film.
During an early Manhattan performance, Frehley and Kiss blasted music in front of a four-foot illuminated Kiss logo he’d created. While their signature pyrotechnics were still in development, an early mishap saw a front-row audience member’s eyebrows singed, as noted by Will Hermes in “Love Goes to a Building on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever.” Yet, the audience was captivated.
Kiss emerged at an opportune moment. Following an era dominated by introspective singer-songwriters like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Simon, whose music was often presented with raw simplicity, audiences were craving something more spectacular and flamboyant.
Sporting their distinct comic-book aesthetic and performing fire-breathing stunts, Kiss stripped rock down to its entertaining core, reminiscent of early pioneers like Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. Their ethos was encapsulated in a famous lyric: “I wanna rock ’n’ roll all night / And party everyday.”
Critics, however, weren’t universally impressed. Even Lester Bangs, a vocal champion of raw rock in Creem and Rolling Stone, was dismayed to discover children favoring Kiss over Aerosmith.
Despite critical reception, music writer Sylvie Simmons, in a 1998 Mojo reassessment, highlighted Kiss’s unique charm. She described them as “metal bubblegum rather than scary stud-rock,” delivering “punch-along anthems perfectly timed for fireworks, bombs, and guitar solos.”
Embracing this rock ‘n’ roll carnival, Frehley achieved his dreams, though it naturally came with the typical rock-star indulgences. In 1981, a high-speed chase down the Bronx River Parkway in his DeLorean led to his arrest for driving under the influence. Thankfully, no one was injured.
However, by the close of the decade, he had found a calmer pace. In a 1989 interview with Musician magazine, he admitted, “I really don’t race cars anymore, because that got me in trouble. For the past couple years I’ve kind of slowed down on all that nonsense and I’ve gotten into a health kick.”
Unlike some artists who later regret the trade-off of identity for fame, Frehley reveled in his Spaceman persona. He seemed truly vibrant in his sparkling, V-front top and Flash Gordon-esque cape. Trading his Bronx roots for an otherworldly identity was, for him, a worthwhile endeavor.
“I was the loser, the black sheep of the family, until I joined Kiss,” he proudly stated in “Behind the Mask.” “Now, I’m the big winner.”