Around 1970 Gene Simmons (bass/vocals) and Paul Stanley (vocals/rhythm guitar) - who had been playing together since the late sixties - formed a band called Rainbow, but the band fell apart before they could record an album. With their next band, a 5-piece group called Wicked Lester, they recorded an album in 1972 that however never was officially released as nobody thought it was any good. The album got shelved, and Gene and Paul fired the other three musicians and started looking for new musicians. They saw an advert in Rolling Stone magazine by a drummer "willing to do anything to make it". A little later Peter Criss joined the duo. They rehearsed for a few months, but Peter didn't see any improvements and fell back in his old habit: drugs, trying to escape from the world around him. At a certain point they came to the conclusion that the thing that was lacking, was a lead guitarist. An advert was placed in the Village Voice, in which they said they were looking for a guitar player with flash and also claimed they had a recording deal. Out of the many guitarists that auditioned, Ace Frehley was chosen after Peter — who really digged Ace from the moment he walked in — had been pushing for him. Ace, looking for a band doing original material and also in need of a job, joined the band somewhere in October of 1972.

It was a time when New York City was the place to be, and the glam rock (or shock rock as some people called it) scene was at its peak. British acts such as David Bowie, T-Rex, Slade and The Sweet were the kings of the genre, while in New York bands like the New York Dolls, the Harlots of 42nd Street, Ruby And The Rednecks and Luger were trying to do the same. In only a few weeks Gene and Paul came up with enough songs to perform live. The foursome wanted to be the band that they had never seen, combining heavy rock and theatrics. They decided to wear make-up, extravagant costumes and high heel boots. So they experimented with paint on their faces, and were tossing around ideas for the live show as well as a name for the band. Because they played original material (and they played it loud!) and looked so weird no club was interested in booking them. Therefore they had to hire ballrooms themselves to play live. They set up a packages including two other bands (local bands that already had a following, so at least there would be fans of those bands showing up — they thought that stealing the audience from those bands would be the fastest way to build their own following). Then they would take care of the promotion themselves as well, but made absolutely sure nobody would find out that they hung up the posters themselves.

Late January of 1973 when driving down Queens Boulevard, Paul came up with the idea to name the band KISS (after Gene's suggestion to name the band Fuck had been refused). Mid June the band recorded a demo tape at the Electric Ladyland Studios in New York City with Eddie Kramer — of Jimi Hendrix fame — overseeing the session. From the very first beginning it was obvious that Paul and Gene called the shots, and Peter and Ace just did what they had to do. As soon as they had a manager, things were however balanced out business-wise: all four got similar contracts so nobody was able to whine about another member making more money. Their manager was Bill Aucoin, former producer of the TV show Flipside with Howard Marks (later to become one of the band's financial managers!). Aucoin made sure that Neil Bogart, a friend of his who was about to start his own record company, got hold of a copy of the demo tape. Bogart had just decided on a name for his new record company and a record deal was signed with KISS thus becoming the first act on Casablanca Records & Filmworks. In October they started recording the very first album in Manhattan. Three weeks later the elpee had been recorded, and mainly consisted of songs composed by Gene and/or Paul. KISS' first real big show was at New Year's Eve of 1973 as opening act for Blue Oyster Cult, sharing the bill with a young Iggy Pop. During his firebreathing act Gene Simmons' hair caught fire for the first time in his career and the crowd went hysterical, because they thought it was part of the show.

Early January 1974 KISS re-opened the old Fillmore East in New York City, while Paul (adviced by Neil Bogart) had changed his make up from the now well known star on his right eye to a bandit or Lone Ranger-type mask. After the show a huge party was held for the press, because of the soon te be released debut album. The record was mixed and pressed on February 1 and in stores less than three weeks later (and would peak in the U.S. charts at No. 87). Meanwhile Paul, unhappy with his new make up, changed it back to the star again. When the album came out on February 18, Neil Bogart's Casablanca Records & Filmworks threw a huge party in Los Angeles at the Century Plaza Hotel where a big room was turned into a replica of Rick's Cafe from the movie Casablanca. One day later KISS debuted on television (on the U.S. TV show In Concert).

It was about time they went on a real tour, as so far they had only played in the State of New York. So they went to Canada to play the entire debut elpee live, and to treat the audience on some spectacular theatrics including exploding drumsticks for Peter Criss (a very dangerous act, which they stopped doing after a drumroadie had lost a hand). Their shows were full of high energy rock 'n' roll, bombs, firebreathing, bloodspitting, levitating drums, explosions, burning guitars, and so on. Soon bands began refusing to let KISS open for them, because after seeing the spectacular live shows put on by KISS the audience wasn't interested in many of the headlining acts anymore. In May a kiss-contest was held and to promote this stunt, KISS covered a Bobby Rydell hit: Kissin' Time, which they had already been playing during their live performances. As soon as radio stations started playing this song, the record company decided to include this track on future pressings of the first album (although the band didn't want it). Nowadays, the original pressing without the cover song is very hard to find.

By September KISS started recording the second album, at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles — far away from home. They were put up in a hotel and getting homesick, which inspired Ace and Paul to write a tune called Comin' Home. The album, entitled Hotter Than Hell, saw the light of day in October of 1974. Again, Paul and Gene had written and sung most of the songs that ended up on the album. The band quickly started touring full speed again. One day during the tour manager Bill Aucoin informed the band that the new elpee wasn't selling anymore, sales of the album didn't even match those of the first album. There was no choice but to return to New York and start working on the next album immediately. Still low on budget KISS didn't have much time to record the album. They couldn't afford to waste any time and being short of new material, they reworked two Wicked Lester tracks: Love Her All I Can and She.

Album number three, Dressed To Kill, was released in February of 1975 — only one year after the debut elpee! Even more than the previous album, this one seemed more of a Stanley/Simmons thing than a band effort. Judging by the song selection at least: the only song not written/sung by Paul or Gene was Getaway, written by Ace and sung by Peter. The album became KISS' first Top 40 elpee, peaking at No. 32 in the U.S. charts. As a live act KISS was now beginning to become quite legendary. But since the albums still didn't sell spectacularly, there was no money for a new album. Luckily Eddie Kramer had recorded a few shows during the Dressed To Kill Tour, so there was the opportunity to release a live album.

Alive! was released on September 10, 1975 and packed in a fold out cover with all sorts of extras (such as a full color booklet): it was something of a gift to the fans. The single Rock And Roll All Nite made it to the No. 12 spot in the U.S. hitparade. According to more and more loyal KISS fans there still wasn't enough KISS on the radio, so they started phoning and writing the radio stations. From then on the DJ's and people in other media started referring to the fans as the KISS Army. Early December the live album had sold 500.000 copies (Gold award) and it went on to peak at No. 9 in the US charts (eventually selling over 4 million). In Atlanta, Georgia a record store celebrated the Gold award by having the four band members print their hand and feet in black cement, while the band name was spelled out in the sidewalk with silver bricks.

After the release of Alive! KISS quickly became the biggest band in the United States. In January of 1976 the band started recording their fourth album, during these sessions the news of Alive! having reached Platinum was announced. So, the band felt the new elpee would be a 'make it or break it' album. Legendary producer Bob Ezrin was brought in, and it being the first time in their recording career that they didn't have to worry about money they took the opportunity to hire studio musicians playing violin, cello, trumpet and such. On the outside everything looked A-okay, but on the inside troubles started to show. Ace and Peter more and more disliked the fact that most of their songs were rejected by Paul and Gene. On top of that Ace didn't get along with Bob Ezrin, who didn't like Ace's working schedule. Nobody knew that a ghost musician was brought in, in fact even Ace didn't know that Dick Wagner (a good friend of Ezrin's who played on Alice Cooper albums) re-did some of his lead tracks. Before winding up the new elpee, Destroyer, KISS had their feet printed in cement in front of the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The album shipped Gold, when it was sent to record stores on March 15.

In May of 1976 KISS toured Europe for the very first time, just after Ace Frehley had married his childhood love Jeanette. Late July Detroit Rock City was released on single with Beth, a ballad sung by Peter, on the B-side (as that was literally how Gene and Paul rated this song, they originally didn't even want it to be included on the album). Surprisingly it was Peter's tune that became a big hit, peaking at No. 7 in the US Top 40. The four masked musicians were awarded the People's Choice Award for the hitsingle Beth. KISS had now really reached the masses too! And after more touring, the band decided it was time for another album again.

In what was very much a live spirit, the elpee Rock And Roll Over was recorded in New York. The album shipped Platinum when it was released in November of 1976 and peaked at No. 11 in the U.S. charts, while Destroyer had gone Platinum too. On the inside however, problems were growing more seriously. The band was changing into two different camps (Paul/Gene versus Ace/Peter) more and more. Of course this was kept a secret for the outside world and the band went out on yet another tour as if nothing was wrong. Their popularity was still rising, and there was even talk of a Marvel Comic totally dedicated to KISS. A tour of Japan was also being prepared. A Boeing 747 was re-painted with the KISS logo and re-named the KISS Clipper Special. In Japan, the band broke attendance records set by The Beatles in the sixties. KISS had become even more popular in the far east! And still, nobody knew what the band members looked like without their trademark (the so called KISS Decision verdict) make-up...

In April of 1977, right after the Japanese tour, the band members took their very first holidays since the band was formed — to be away from each other from a while. Not only their popularity had become huge, so had their egos. Peter and Ace's substance abuse made things even worse. Only a month or so later, they were all back in New York City recording the next album. Meanwhile KISS had officialy been chosen the most popular band in America, according to the Gallup Poll (leaving the Eagles, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin in the dust). Late May, the new album Love Gun shipped Platinum to the record stores. In June the first KISS Marvel Comic was published and a month later the band went out on their biggest tour ever. The new album peaked at No. 4 in the U.S. charts, with the previous three albums in the Top 100 of the Record World Album Charts as well (making KISS the only band in the U.S.A. to have four albums in the Top 100). During the tour the second live album, Alive II, was recorded. To make the album even more special for the fans, new studio tracks were being recorded for Side 4 of the double elpee. Once again ghost musicians had to be hired to fill in for Ace on most of these new tracks. By the end of 1977 the album shipped Platinum nevertheless. Meanwhile over 100,000 fans had officially joined the KISS Army, which had become the biggest fanclub in music history.

Behind closed doors things got really nasty. While cocaine was ruling their lives, Peter and Ace made it clear they were going to leave the band to do solo albums if they wouldn't get more creative input. A compromise that saved the day was that they would all do a solo album and release the four solo albums simultaneously. The fans however, were eagerly awaiting a new elpee from the band, so while the band was breaking attendance records again during their second tour of Japan in March/April of 1978, the record company decided to release a two-record compilation album, appropriately titled Double Platinum. After the tour the band split up for a while and the band members all went their separate ways. During this break Gene met Cher at a Hollywood party and only one month later bought her a Ferrari. While Gene was making headlines thanks to his affair with Cher, the rumor of KISS breaking up reared its ugly head. But in May the band was back in business and working on the next big surprise: a KISS movie. KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park was shown on prime time saturday night TV in the U.S.A. and shown in cinemas a year later in other countries.

Marvel wanted to do another KISS comic, and merchandise such as dolls, beltbuckles, toy vans, masks, costumes, colorforms, puzzles, lunch boxes, sleeping bags, etc. etc. spread like wildfire. Things were going over the top, it seemed. Not since Elvis or The Beatles had people seen anything like this! Their was no stopping the KISS machine led by manager Bill Aucoin. On September 18, 1978 the solo albums were released, and all four shipped Platinum. Over four million 'KISS' albums being delivered to the record stores in the U.S.A. all at once. Never ever had the music industry experienced anything like that. KISS was all over the media. The band members took the rest of the year off. Paul hooked up with a certain Desmond Child to work on some songs and like Gene (who also helped Cher in getting a record deal with Casablanca Records) he produced other bands, while Ace had a state-of-the-art recording studio being build under his house, and Peter went to Europe for a vacation.

Early 1979 KISS started rehearsing again, although Peter had been involved in a serious car accident. Session drummer Anton Fig, who had played drums on Ace's solo album, replaced Peter in the studio as the band couldn't afford to wait any longer, while rumors of KISS breaking up for good still were making the rounds. In May the new album, Dynasty, was released — peaking at No. 9 in the U.S. charts. The first single, I Was Made For Lovin' You, peaked at No. 11 in the U.S., whereas it made it all the way to No. 1 in a lot of other countries. Thanks to a much popier sound (and because of the toys and other merchandise) a whole new generation of music fans turned onto KISS. TV, radio, magazines and newspapers were all paying attention to KISS. The merchandise started to become available outside the USA as well and the KISS Army was rapidly growing all around the world.

With more and more kids getting into KISS, some of the old die-hards left the KISS Army and went on to other bands. During the Dynasty Tour, Cher broke up with Gene and towards the end of the tour Peter and his wife Lydia got divorced. Some sources even claim Peter missed some shows during the tour and had to be replaced by his drum roadie on these occassions. Ace too was getting a bigger problem all the time, and it was suggested to him he would seek professional help for his substance abuse. Peter was determined to leave the band and went to Brazil for his honeymoontrip with his new wife (a photomodel named Debbie Jensen). A tour of Europe suddenly had to be cancelled, without informing the fans why. Meanwhile record label president Neil Bogart left Casablanca Records & Filmworks, which allowed KISS to sign a deal with PolyGram Records. The biggest deal in the music industry ever, at the time.

The Lick It Up Tour continued in the USA and Canada, with Dutch rockgroup Vandenberg opening. Throughout the tour Vinnie had made the same misstake of wanting more control and influence in what happened with the band so he was fired again once the tour was over, this time for good. While KISS started looking for a new leadguitarist, Gene produced Wendy Orlean Williams' debut album W.O.W. and also took up an acting career with Runaway, starring Tom "Magnum" Selleck, being his first real movie role after the 1978 KISS movie KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park. While Gene was in Hollywood, the rest of the band, along with new leadguitarist Mark St John, recorded a new album. In September the album Animalize came out and eventually made it onto the number 19 spot in the U.S. charts and awarded double platinum, thus becoming KISS' most successful album in many years. By the time it was time to go out on tour again, new leadguitarist Mark discovered he had a rare disease called Reiter's Syndrome which unabled him to play guitar. Cancelling or delaying another tour would have hurt the band's reputation so a temporary replacement had to be found very quickly. Bruce Kulick was the replacement leadguitarist and after a short rehearsal he went to Europe with KISS where the Animalize Tour kicked off on September 30. The U.S. leg of the tour started in the third week of November, and when the tour ended it was decided to keep Bruce in the band as Mark had only played 2 shows during the tour.

Soon to be continued ...

Gene Simmons ("The Demon"), Paul Stanley ("The Starchild"), Tommy Thayer ("The Spaceman") and Eric Singer ("The Catman") - from 2003-????

Gene Simmons ("The Demon"), Paul Stanley ("The Starchild"), Peter Criss ("The Catman") and Ace Frehley ("The Spaceman") - from 1972-1980 & 1996-2000

Gene Simmons ("The Demon"), Paul Stanley ("The Starchild"), Eric Carr ("The Fox") and Ace Frehley ("The Spaceman") - from 1980-1982;

Gene Simmons ("The Demon"), Paul Stanley ("The Starchild"), Eric Carr ("The Fox") and Vinnie Vincent ("The Wiz") - from 1982-1983;

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Carr and Mark St. John - 1984;

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick - from 1984-1991;

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer - from 1992-1996

Gene Simmons ("The Demon"), Paul Stanley ("The Starchild"), Ace Frehley ("The Spaceman") and Eric Singer ("The Catman") - from 2001-2002

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