Ace Frehley

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Ace Frehley : biography

April 27, 1951 –

After a few unsuccessful attempts at securing a recording contract, the group eventually signed to Megaforce Records and released their first album, Frehley’s Comet, on July 7, 1987. The album was co-produced by Eddie Kramer, who had produced not only a number of Kiss albums, but Frehley’s 1978 album and some of his 1984–85 demos. Anton Fig, now being the in-studio drummer for David Letterman’s late-night television show, performed on the album but was unable to maintain a permanent commitment to touring. He played on the 1987 tour in the U.S. when Frehley’s band played a double bill with Y&T, and new band (at the time) White Lion opening the shows. By the time the band began recording this album, Richie Scarlet had left the group to pursue other projects and was replaced by Tod Howarth. In addition, at some point between the initial Frehley’s Comet shows in 1984–85 and their signing to Megaforce, the band had become a four-piece, with Arthur Stead no longer playing with the group.

Frehley’s Comet, a mixture of hard rock and pop metal, was a successful return to the music scene for Frehley. The album peaked at No. 43 on the Billboard 200 (selling nearly 500,000 copies), and the single, a Russ Ballard cover "Into the Night," reached No. 27 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.Allmusic . Retrieved October 27, 2011. "Rock Soldiers" was an autobiographic song, written partially about Frehley’s April 1982 car accident. The video for "Rock Soldiers" received moderate airplay on MTV, particularly on Headbangers Ball.

Despite the positive reviews and healthy album sales of Frehley’s Comet, Frehley was unable to maintain much commercial momentum. Two 1988 Frehley’s Comet albums—the live EP Live+1 and second studio album Second Sighting peaked at No. 84 and No. 81, respectively. A pair of tours in support of Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden ended prematurely, with the band claiming lack of payment in both cases.. KISSFAQ.com. Retrieved June 27, 2006.

In order to reverse his band’s declining commercial fortunes, Frehley dropped the Frehley’s Comet moniker and issued 1989’s Trouble Walkin’ under his own name. Tod Howarth and Jamie Oldaker also decided to leave before recording started on the album, and were replaced by Richie Scarlet and Sandy Slavin. Despite the return to a more traditional hard rock style, Trouble Walkin’ continued the pattern of declining sales, and peaked at #102.

One notable aspect of Trouble Walkin’ was the guest appearance of Peter Criss, who provided backing vocals on several tracks, along with Sebastian Bach and other members of Skid Row. It was the first time Criss and Frehley had performed together on an album since Kiss’ 1979 album, Dynasty, although Criss had shown up briefly at a Frehley’s Comet show in Los Angeles in 1987, playing drums on a final encore of "Deuce". Frehley would return the favor by playing solos on Peter’s ‘Criss’ "Cat #1" CD on TNT Records, released in 1994. In contrast to the somewhat adversarial relationship Frehley had with Kiss (particularly Gene Simmons) throughout the 1980s, he and Criss had maintained good ties during the decade. In June 1995, Frehley’s and Criss’ bands embarked on the "Bad Boys Tour." These years (1993 to 1995) produced one of Frehley’s most talented bands of his solo career, with Frehley on lead guitar and vocals, Richie Scarlet on guitar, Steve "Budgie" Werner on drums, and Karl Cochran on bass.

Filmography

  • Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978)
  • Live+4 (1988) (VHS)
  • Ace Frehley – Acevision Volume #1 (1994)
  • Kiss: The Second Coming Documentary (1998)
  • Detroit Rock City (1999)
  • Kiss Loves You (2004)
  • Remedy (2004)
  • Let’s Go Cobo (Documentary) (2009)

Interviews

  • Behind the Player:Ace Frehley DVD (2010)