A series of “bad decisions” by KISS guitarist Ace Frehley contributed to his death, band frontman Gene Simmons told The Post.
Simmons condemned the substance abuse he suggested contributed to Frehley’s fatal fall down the stairs in his Morristown, NJ home studio, leading to a brain bleed that killed him days later on Oct. 16 at age 74.
“He refused [advice] from people that cared about him – including yours truly – to try to change his lifestyle. In and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart,” said Simmons.
The Morris County medical examiner report lists the cause of death as a blunt trauma injury of the head due to a fall. It said a separate toxicology report on Frehley’s blood would be issued.
“The saddest thing – you reap what you shall sow unfortunately,” said the outspoken Simmons, 76, the co-lead singer and bassist for the band.
Simmons, who is in DC to collect a Kennedy Center Honor with surviving band members and to testify in the Senate to promote legislation to require large radio stations pay royalties to performers, described attending Frehley’s private funeral service on Oct. 22.
“It breaks my heart. Peter Criss, our founding drummer, Paul [Stanley] and myself went to the funeral, open casket.
“It was just heartbreaking. Saddest of all perhaps is that Ace just couldn’t stay alive long enough to sit there proudly at the Kennedy Center and listen to – I can’t even tell you who’s going to come out … really impressive people, just to say how much KISS meant to them.
“What can you say – sad.”
Simmons previously spoke to People about the pressures that may have kept fellow band members from intervening with Frehley.
“Let’s just continue doing the tour because you want to get through it for selfish reasons because it’s working, and the chicks, and the money, and you don’t want to ruin anything,” he told the magazine. “Meantime, somebody who might be your brother is ruining their life by bad decisions.”
Frehley published a searing online post in 2019 blasting Simmons for comments at the time admonishing him for his drinking and alleged unreliability.
“Your slanderous remarks about my bad habits over the years has cost me millions of dollars and now that I’m over 12-years sober you’re still saying I can’t be trusted to play a whole nights show! Well that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the last 12-years with different configurations of ‘The Ace Frehley Band’ to you and Paul’s dismay!” he wrote.
He warned at the time that without an apology that “the s*** will hit the fan and they’ll [sic] be no stopping it. It’s on!” Rolling Stone reported at the time.
Frehley was charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving, and leaving the scene after a 1983 car chase on the Bronx River Parkway in his 1981 DeLorean. He was required to spend two weeks in a hospital detox and to attend AA meetings.
After helping found the band in 1973, Frehley left KISS in 1982, rejoined for a reunion tour in 1996 and remained in the band until 2002. The bandmates put a coda on any past feuds as Simmons and Paul Stanley, both from Queens, joined Peter Criss, from Brooklyn, to honor Frehley, from the Bronx.
