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Famous Like Me > Actor > S > Gene Simmons

Profile of Gene Simmons on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Gene Simmons  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 25th August 1949
   
Place of Birth: Tirat Ha-Carmel, Israel
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Gene Simmons in a scene from the TV-series Rock School.

Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel to Hungarian Jewish immigrants) is best known as the blood spitting, fire breathing, tongue-wagging egomaniacal bass player for the rock band KISS. In 1958, he emigrated to New York City as a child with his mother - a Hungarian immigrant and the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust - after his father, Feri Witz, abandoned his family. After emigrating to America, he took the name Gene Klein; he felt that 'Gene' was more American than 'Chaim', and his mother's maiden name was Klein. In the late 1960s, he changed his name again, to Gene Simmons, as he simply felt that "Gene Klein" didn't have enough of a ring to it.

Simmons formed the rock band Wicked Lester in the early 1970s with Stanley Eisen (a.k.a. Paul Stanley) and recorded one album, which was never released. Dissatisfied with Wicked Lester's sound and look, Simmons and Stanley went looking for other musicians and eventually joined up with drummer Peter Criscoula and lead guitarist Paul Frehley—who would become Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, respectively. Simmons and Stanley then attempted to fire the other members of Wicked Lester and bring in Criss and Frehley; when the other members refused, Simmons and Stanley immediately quit Wicked Lester and formed a new band with Criss and Frehley, which they soon dubbed KISS. KISS released their first self-titled debut album in February of 1974. Simmons is the driving force behind the marketing of KISS.

Gene Simmons currently lives in Beverly Hills, California with his long time partner Shannon Tweed, a former Playboy playmate of the year.

Mr. Simmons is also a movie producer and actor who has appeared in a number of movies including Runaway, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Trick Or Treat, Red Surf, Detroit Rock City, The New Guy.

He also created the animated television series called My Dad The Rock Star, by the Canadian animation company Nelvana, about the mild mannered son of a Gene Simmons-like rock star who wants to live a normal life, with his wealthy and eccentric father making such a life nearly impossible.

Simmons claims to have invented the "devil horns" gesture, which arose from him holding a pick and extending his available fingers. However, Ronnie James Dio is generally considered the originator of this gesture.

Simmons has also appeared on two episodes of Family Guy as himself. In the story of one of the episodes, he had sex with Lois Griffin ("Loose Lois") back when he was still known as Chaim Witz.

Simmons was a guest DJ at WXRK K-Rock in New York during the Fourth of July Monster Metal Meltdown in 2005.

  • Discovered Van Halen.
  • In 1990, he produced Doro Pesch's second solo album Doro at Fortress Recorders in Hollywood, California (United States).
  • In 2004, Simmons released his first solo album in 26 years, Asshole with a remake of Prodigy's Firestarter.

Simmons is known for breathing fire and spitting blood. It is unknown how he makes this presumably fake blood pour from his mouth. He himself told in an NPR interview that "it's when nobody's looking, fill your mouth full of it, and get into it." (Source)

Albums

  • Gene Simmons

Books

  • KISS and Make-Up, (ISBN 0-609-81002-2)
  • Sex Money KISS, (ISBN 1-893224-86-4)

Gene Simmons has recently made a reality TV show called Rock School. In rock school Gene tries to make a rock band out of a group of children trained in classical music.

Quotes

  • "I'm sick of musicians saying 'I don't care what you want to hear, I'm gonna play whatever I want 'cause I'm an artist.' You're an artist? Paint my house, bitch!"
  • "The book's about sex. My design, and I suspect all God's designs, start with some engine. A car's engine either has horsepower or not. The design of this particular beast, man, is to expel sperm. Every time we get aroused we expel sperm. If not, the family of man would suffer from extinction."
  • "I urge all women to get married as often as they can and men, never. I have never been married. Never intend to. Marriage is an institution which to get into you have to be committed. I've been with [Playmate model] Shannon Tweed for 20 years. We have two great kids. But marriage, never. Look, only women who watch 'Oprah' and 'Dr. Phil' believe men walk down the street and do not look at a woman with double D's. I mean, a man can hold his breath but not forever. A man has two heads but only blood enough for one. Also, please note, Oprah's not married."
  • At one point, Terry Gross asked Simmons about his "studded codpiece." "It holds my manhood, otherwise it would be too much for you to take," Simmons said. "You'd have to put the book down and confront life."

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Gene Simmons