The world is raising a glass of cold gin to honor the late, legendary Ace Frehley, the iconic “Spaceman” guitarist of Kiss. Frehley passed away last night at 74 due to complications from a fall. He perfectly embodied the quintessential Seventies guitar hero, the cosmic cadet from the planet Jendell.
Ace defined the band’s comic-book superhero aesthetic, with his silver makeup, towering space boots, and effortlessly cool, DGAF swagger. Yet his music was pure rock power, his Les Paul blasting through a Marshall stack to deliver the frenzied solos of “Shock Me,” “Strange Ways,” and “She.” The beloved son of Jendell was finally coming home.
Kiss thrived on mystery, and no one carried it quite like Ace. In a band of shrewd businessmen, he was the untamed spirit—the one who truly rocked all night and partied all day, leaving chaos in his wake.
Ace cheated death numerous times, whether speeding down the Bronx River Parkway in his DeLorean at 100 mph or meeting the Phantom of the Park. While Kiss featured legendary personas, Paul Stanley as the Starchild, Gene Simmons as the Demon, Peter Criss as the Cat, Ace embodied the essence of Space Ace.
“I eat, sleep, and drink my character,” Ace told Rolling Stone in 1977. “It is my fantasy to go to another planet. By the time I’m 40, interplanetary travel will be common. Nobody will want to talk to me at that age anyway. Stardom is a temporary phase. You become a candidate for the nuthouse when you believe that what you are is everlasting.”
He certainly didn’t imagine remaining famous nearly 50 years later: “I’m gonna be on Mars. It doesn’t fuckin’ matter. This planet won’t be here in 50 years.”
Paul Daniel Frehley grew up in the Bronx, his mind blown at 15 when he saw The Who’s first U.S. show. He joined the other three members of Kiss after responding to a Village Voice ad: “Lead Guitarist Wanted with Flash and Ability. No time wasters please.” Ace wasted no time proving himself.
At just 21 and still living with his parents, he already radiated star power, a kid nicknamed “Ace” at 16 for his swagger. His mother drove him to the audition, and while the band questioned his fashion sense, his flash and ability were undeniable.
Ace became a cult hero to Seventies kids with his pose on the cover of Kiss Alive!, the album that launched them to fame. At the time, the band was struggling to sell records, barely keeping afloat, but the Alive! cover presented them as larger-than-life superheroes, looming over the audience. Ace took center stage, knees bent, Gibson in hand, while Gene and Paul posed beside him.
Though the cover shot was staged in an empty Detroit theater, the image captured the essence of Ace’s power. As Gene Simmons noted, “If you look at it, you’ll see Ace is holding his guitar upside down.”
But that was the magic of Ace, he didn’t need his guitar to be upright or even plugged in to command the scene. He was the chaotic, otherworldly force at the heart of Kiss.
Ace wrote classics like “Shock Me,” inspired by a real-life near-electrocution, and “Cold Gin,” inspired by the beverage itself. “Shock Me” marked his debut as lead vocalist for Kiss, a modest start but unforgettable.
Ace always seemed to sing directly to the audience, the Kiss Army that fueled him. “Your lightning’s all I need,” he crooned. “My satisfaction grows/You make me feel at ease/You even make me glow.”
For Ace, rock stardom was a live wire, always bare and overloaded, with fans supplying the charge. Offstage, he seemed to struggle to exist, he was all rock star, all the time. He partied harder than anyone, once drinking a bottle of perfume in case it contained alcohol.
With his squeaky voice and signature “ack!” laugh, he was a singular character in rock, and an unlikely but devoted friend to the band Rush. As Geddy Lee told Rolling Stone, “We would get high with Ace Frehley in his hotel room and make him laugh.”
Ace’s lead work was unmistakable in songs like “Strange Ways,” “100,000 Years,” and “Calling Dr. Love.” As he told Rolling Stone in 2014, “Page, Clapton, Hendrix, Townshend, Beck — all I did was copy their solos and kind of twist them around, and you’ve got a guitar style.”
His mystique was amplified by the way Paul Stanley pronounced his name, particularly on Alive 2! Always ethereal, Ace seemed to approach the world sideways, visually and musically, yet he was also a born comedian, as seen in Kiss’ 1979 full-makeup interview with Tom Snyder. “I think this outfit is self-explanatory,” he said, his laugh as deranged as his guitar.
In 1978, Kiss pulled off a legendary stunt: releasing four solo albums simultaneously, one per band member. Ace stole the spotlight with Ace Frehley, featuring the hit “New York Groove.”
The song, a Russ Ballard tune previously a UK Top 10 for Hello, was transformed by Ace’s cosmic touch, stomp-stomp-stomp choruses, quivering guitar riffs, cha-cha beats, and his declarative vocals: “It’s gonna be ecstasy! This place was meant for me!”
Despite claiming insecurity about his singing, Ace exuded swagger, roaming New York with money and admirers in tow. The anthem became a Mets staple at Citi Field, while Ace and Gene Simmons never stopped debating whose solo album fared better.
Ace’s legacy, however, left a larger imprint, though Gene’s work was also top-tier, featuring “Radioactive” and his version of “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Ace left Kiss in 1982, just before their bold move of shedding makeup and enjoying a comeback with hits like “Lick It Up” and “Heaven’s on Fire.” He continued with Frehley’s Comet, rejoined Kiss for the 1996 reunion tour with makeup restored, and last performed with the band at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
“My problem is that God gave me too many gifts,” he told Rolling Stone in 2014. His memoir, No Regrets, hinted at exceptions, prompting a sequel titled Some Regrets.
Ace continued making music until the end, releasing 10,000 Volts in 2024, remaining the quintessential Space Ace with his mix of extraterrestrial mystique and Bronx grit. This place was meant for him. Fly on forever, spaceman.