Gene Simmons took a moment today (April 27) to wish former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley a happy birthday and extend an invite to take part in the band’s farewell tour.
Simmons wrote on Twitter, “Happy Birthday Ace. And many more…The invitations still stand. Jump up on stage with us for encores. The fans would love it.”
Happy Birthday Ace @ace_frehley. And many more…The invitations still stand. Jump up on stage with us for encores. The fans would love it.
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) April 27, 2022
Relations with Frehley and former drummer Peter Criss and Simmons and Paul Stanley have been dicey in recent years, to say the least. Back in January 2019, there was a big back-and-forth between Frehley and Simmons. Simmons said he didn’t want Frehley or Criss on the farewell tour on a full-time basis due to their past substance abuse issues. This led to Frehley calling Simmons a “sex addict” and accusing him of groping and propositioning his wife. On top of that, Frehley’s girlfriend, Rachel Gordon, then accused KISS of trying to have the guitarist killed in the ’70s.
In November 2019, KISS manager Doc McGhee said during a Q&A on the KISS Kruise, “Ace and Peter will be and have been invited to come and play with us at anytime. Like I always say, people in New York would love to see Joe Namath still play football for the Jets. Unfortunately, he can’t. We want to include everybody that played with KISS to celebrate the 45 years of KISS.”
McGhee continued, “…We’re still looking at what we’re going to do on the final show of KISS… and, yes, they’ve all been talked to about it, so I can see us doing something. It’s very difficult, though, when people say, ‘Oh, you should bring Ace and Peter up.’ I mean, how do you do that when you have two Catmen and two Spacemen?’ So you say, ‘Okay, you don’t wear makeup, and you wear makeup.’ And then they go, ‘Well, that was my makeup.’ I don’t know.”