Kiss' Paul Stanley Unleashes His Wrath In Scathingly Raw New Memoir
Paul Stanley, frontman of the glam rock outfit Kiss, has released a new memoir in which he details some of the more private aspects of his life and reflects upon his career fronting one of the world's biggest bands. From fairly humble beginnings and with a little hard work, Kiss became one of the highest selling rock n' roll acts of all time, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide.
Paul Stanley Releases Memoir, 'Face The Music: A Life Exposed.'
Life hasn't always been plain sailing for Stanley, 62, who is also known by his stage name The Starchild, owing to the black star he paints over his right eye. Born in Manhattan and raised in Queens, the child afflicted with microtia, a facial deformity which prevented his right ear from forming properly and left him deaf on the right side, didn't have an easy ride at the hands of his peers.
"There was a time when this makeup was a mask-hiding the face of a kid whose life up to then had been lonely and miserable," explains Stanley in his new book. "I was born with no right ear-I'm deaf on that side, too-and the most searing early memories I have are of other kids calling me "Stanley the one-eared monster." It was often kids I didn't even know. But they knew me: the kid with a stump for an ear," via Parade.
Stanley Explains Meeting Simmons, Forming KISS & Creating His Starchild Persona.
He met bassist Gene Simmons and joined Wicked Lester before they recruited Ace Frehley and Peter Criss to create the formidable rock unit known as KISS.
Next Page: Stanley reflects on how Starchild helped him both hide and feel confident.
Stanley continues to attribute his success to "small successes and small wins," explaining how the difficulties he faced as a child helped him form his onstage persona.
Adopting A Stage Persona Helped Stanley Forget About His Insecurities.
"The character taking shape on my face originally came about as a defense mechanism to cover up who I really was," he said. "For many years when I first put this makeup on, I had a sense of another person coming out. The insecure, incomplete kid with all the doubts and all the internal conflicts suddenly got painted away, and that other guy came out, the guy I had created to show everybody that they should have been nicer to me, that they should have been my friend, that I was someone special. I created a guy who would get the girl," writes Stanley.
"People I'd known earlier in life were astonished by my success with KISS. And I understand why. They never knew what was going on inside me. They never knew why I was the way I was, what my aspirations were. They never knew any of that. To them I was just a f***-up or a freak. Or a monster."
Kiss: Stronger Than Ever?
The guitarist and singer now has a positive outlook on his life and career: "I love to look out and see people jumping, screaming, dancing, kissing, celebrating, all in a state of ecstasy. I bask in it. It's like a tribal gathering. KISS has become a tradition, a ritual passed down from generation to generation. It's an amazing gift to be able to communicate with people on that level and have so many of them out there, all of them, all of us, together, decades after we started. The smile will not leave my face through the entire set."
Face The Music: A Life Exposed is out now in bookshops.
More: Gene Simmons Wants Fans To Plan Kiss' 40th Anniversary Project.
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