KISS will leave a chair free for their late bandmate Ace Frehley’s spirit when they enter the Kennedy Center Honors next month.
The veteran rockers are among the recipients of the prestigious award – which “recognises and celebrates individuals whose unique artistic contributions have shaped our world” – this year and will be inducted alongside the likes of stage star Michael Crawford, disco legend Gloria Gaynor, country musician George Strait and actor Sylvester Stallone at a ceremony on December 7.
Sadly, the original lead guitarist for the glam rock band passed away after suffering a nasty fall on October 16, at the age of 74, leaving his bandmates devastated.
The I Was Made For Loving You band’s co-singer and bassist, Gene Simmons, recently performed with his solo band at the Love Ride powered by Harley-Davidson at the Castaic Lake in Castaic, California, on November 9, where he said a few words about Frehley and admitted it’s a huge shame he won’t be there to see President Donald Trump honouring KISS.
The star-studded event will also see country superstar Garth Brooks honour KISS with a cover of Shout It Out Loud.
Simmons, 76, said at the event: “ I wanna take a moment just to tell you that somebody I’ve known for many decades who started the band with us, a guy named Ace Frehley…”
He continued: “Very sad. Paul [Stanley, KISS frontman] and myself and Peter Criss [original KISS drummer], we went to Ace’s funeral. He sadly passed. And the saddest part of all, besides the pain and suffering to his friends, family, his daughter, his wife, his whole family, is that Ace didn’t live long enough to be with us on December 7 when the president and everybody’s gonna get up there and honour KISS in entering the Kennedy Center Honors. And the first person who’s gonna walk out there and talk about how KISS changed his life is [country star] Garth Brooks, who’s gonna host a little bit. Then he’s gonna play Shout It Out Loud and knock it out of the park. And in Ace’s memory, we’re gonna make sure one of the four chairs is empty with Ace’s name, because he deserves to be there in spirit, even if he can’t be there physically.”
Introducing the next song, he said: “So, one day Ace walked in. The very first song he ever wrote we’re gonna do now. It’s called Cold Gin.”