Ace Frehley, GRAMMY® Award nominated and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted rock guitarist; and iconic founding member of KISS, died today at age 74. Frehley passed away peacefully surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey, following a recent fall at his home.
Frehley’s family issued the following statement:
“We are completely devastated and heartbroken. In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth. We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions, and beyond comprehension. Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace’s memory will continue to live on forever!”
Paul Daniel Frehley was born in The Bronx, New York, and began playing guitar at age 13. Frehley’s musical influences ranged from Led Zeppelin to Cream to The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix (to whom he was a roadie for at age 18). With a musical legacy spanning 50-plus years, Frehley began performing with various bands in the early 70s until he joined Peter Criss, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons to form the ionic rock band KISS. As lead guitarist for the band, his persona was known as “Space Ace,” and later, “The Spaceman.”
In 1972, Frehley delivered his debut solo album, Ace Frehley, which reached Platinum status. In 1987, he dropped Frehley’s Comet, followed by 2009’s Anomaly. In 2014, his Space Invader album hit the Top 10 of the charts at #9 on the Billboard 200. Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Slash, Lita Ford, and John 5 collaborated with Frehley in 2016 on Origins Vol. 1, which reached the top spot at #1 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums Chart and in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top Rock Albums Chart. Frehley followed up Origins Vol. 1 with Spaceman in 2018 and Origins Vol.2 in 2020.
Frehley was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with KISS in 2014. In 1999, he was GRAMMY® nominated with KISS for “Best Hard Rock Performance” for the album Psycho Circus and was inducted into Hollywood’s Rock Walk that same year. He also received a 1999 Gibson USA Legends award. He was to be a recipient of The Kennedy Center Honors with KISS this December 7th.
Frehley’s current album, 10,000 Volts was released on February 23rd, 2024 — he was on tour this year in support of the collection which features guest appearances by Paul Stanley, Robin Zander and Bruce Kulick.
Frehley is survived by his wife Jeanette, daughter Monique, brother Charles, sister Nancy Salvner, nieces Suncere Frehley and Julie Salvner, nephews Sky Frehley and Andrew Salvner, sister-in-law Michelanne and brother-in-law Ron Salvner.
19 Responses
Good Morning America was nice enough to pay tribute to Ace, but unfortunately they were mixing Ace footage with the imposter Spaceman from recent years. How no one caught that is beyond me…
I mentioned a few weeks ago om the Question Of The Week that the Ace solo album from 1978 was my top to bottom no skip record…this is a sad loss for me and the world…all my heroes are dying (EVH, OZZY, ACE, even Rick Davies from Supertramp who I love…all gone).
In the ’70s, KISS was our Beatles, and Ace was our guitar hero. My first concert was seeing KISS during their Love Gun tour. I’ve always been an Ace fan whether with KISS or solo. RIP, Spaceman. You’ll always be missed but never forgotten.
I have no words, Kiss was my gateway to heavy music.
I love Ace’s guitar playing and his solo albums. But what burns my butt, is on social media, some are paying tribute, with Heaven’s on fire, which is not a good song (to me a spit in the face). If one has no clue, do research, or just don’t comment. Also, some morons that comment, “Oh no, Vinnie Vincent played on that song” (another dumb ass). Real fans, know its Mark St. John.
Rest in Peace Ace, and the other to who didn’t want to play in Piss, can kindly go you know where. Sorry, losing too many icons, is making me cranky.
Heaven’s On Fire is a great song! But I agree, it’s not an Ace song
This is a tough one, right up there with the passing of Edward Van Halen. Ace inspired 10-year old me – and an entire generation of kids – to pick up the guitar. Ace may not have been “technically brilliant,” but how many other guitar players can you think of whose guitar solos you can recall in your head, and then sing them? Answer: VERY few. That’s what makes Ace’s guitar playing brilliant. Shine on, Space Ace!
“From Planet Jendal – Ace Frehley lead guitar!!!!”
It was 1997. KISS had made a huge comeback with the original line-up in full costume and make-up. I was 18 going on 19 and I was experiencing a live performance on MTV of KISS live in Nuremberg, Germany at the 1997 addition of Rock am Ring.
I had never seen anything like it. The lights, the sound, the visuals; this was something magical. As I watched, one person stood out to me. Now take nothing away from the others; each brought something to the table – but it was the lead guitar player that got my attention more than the others.
That of course – was Paul Daniel ‘Ace’ Frehley.
There was something about Ace that made you feel that he was just like you. He was the most popular member of the band; something that I’m sure rankled with some of the others. There wasn’t anything flashy about him; he didn’t carry himself off as being bigger and better than you. He was just like the rest of us; the only difference was that he was in what was, particularly in the 1970s, the biggest band in the world.
It was this down to earth ‘the devil may care’ attitude that I think made Ace as popular with the fans as he was. I have heard him say that he wasn’t the greatest guitarist; but for so many he was. People who know me know of my deep, deep love for Black Sabbath and the influence Tony Iommi had on me in picking up the guitar. However, here’s a little known fact:
“The reason I play a Les Paul is because of Ace Frehley.”
Seeing him play at Rock am Ring, I saw the guitar he was playing and said: “I want one of those.” It took me another three years to start playing, and in total, from 1997, it took me five years until I got my Les Paul. I wanted the cherry sunburst colour like Ace’s but I couldn’t get one for love nor money. The funny thing is, the picture that the band has put up of Ace on the KISS website; that Les Paul he’s playing: The colour is very similar to the one that I bought back in 2002; which I still have and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Most people’s favourite KISS riff is an Ace one. He was and will always be the one and only Space Man: The original and not a copy. Was he perfect? Did he always make the right choice? Did he always look after himself properly? No – but that was what made him who is was. I got to see KISS live once. The one thing I remember most is Ace’s guitar solo spot. My god was he loud; if Nigel Tufnell’s Marshall went to 11 – I think Ace’s went to 22. I’m sure my ear drums moved as he began shredding.
Now that Ace has left us, I just hope that Paul, Gene and Peter can and will attend Ace’s funeral without any BS. I think that it’s very likely that Mr Trunk will also attend – and I would hope that this won’t be used as a reason by a certain person(s) to not show up because Mr Trunk didn’t like the idea of two people being passed off as the originals. Well here’s one for you:
“I didn’t like it and neither did a lot of others.”
Ace, thank you for the music and the influence. I know that you found it hard to believe that you were so influential to fellow guitarists, but you were. Your legend will live on for many years to come. May I also offer my sincere condolences to all of Ace’s family and friends.
Paul Danial ‘Ace’ Frehley: 27th April 1951 – 16th October 2025.
Rest in Peace ‘Space Man’…..or was it the plumber?! (See the Tom Snyder interview for reference)
Further to my previous post, I thought that this made a nice tribute – even though it was put together 16 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUwZQXBPDiw&list=RDRUwZQXBPDiw&start_radio=1
Hope you all like it – Ace lives on.