KISS icon Gene Simmons recently spoke to Jay Mohr on his Mohr Stories podcast. Simmons said that he learned of Ace Frehley’s reported passing through a text from Peter Criss’s wife, Gigi. He described being told Ace passed away after falling down stairs and being taken off life support despite his family’s efforts.
Gene Simmons talks about Ace Frehley
Simmons said he, Paul Stanley, and Peter Criss flew to New York for the funeral, and that seeing Ace in an open casket was overwhelming, as he still looked like the fun-loving person they knew, almost as if he might get up and joke again.
Simmons said, “I was here in California, and I got a text from Gigi, Peter Criss’s [original KISS drummer] wife, that Ace had passed. He fell down the stairs, apparently the second time, and they couldn’t… The short story is the hospital said, ‘He has to go.’ The family fought to keep him alive, but he didn’t last long. So Peter Criss, Paul Stanley [KISS guitarist/vocalist] and myself went and flew to the wake [in New York] and then the funeral. But I will tell you that no matter how emotional it was, the open casket was just too much. I just had to put my head down because he was right in front of — we were right there. And Ace looked like he was [gonna go], ‘Oh, just kidding,’ and get up and always be the fun guy he was.”
Gene Simmons said that beyond Ace Frehley’s passing, the most heartbreaking part is that KISS is about to be honored at the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, where Ace’s seat will be empty.
He expressed hope that Ace is watching from above, reflecting on what they accomplished together, and lamented that Ace didn’t live long enough to share that moment with his family. Asked if the call informing him of Ace’s death is one that he was, in the back of his mind, expecting for a long time, Gene said;
“The saddest part of all, for me, other than his passing, is we’re about to be honored by the president of the country [at the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors], and we’re gonna have an a seat right between us that’s gonna be empty and hopefully Ace is gonna be looking out. ‘Wow, we did some cool stuff, right? Didn’t we?’ He should have at least stayed alive just that long, to be there with his family and stuff. It’s heartbreaking. What are you gonna do?”
Asked if the call informing him of Ace’s death is one that he was, in the back of his mind, expecting for a long time, Gene added: “Yes. When you see — when you witness, not see, when you’re in the company, when you witness self-destructive behavior, you start to imagine… I mean, there were so many car wrecks, so many — let’s just say lesser people would’ve died.”
