Alice Cooper has paid tribute to late guitar pioneer Ace Frehley, calling him a “hero” following news of his passing.
The KISS guitarist died yesterday (October 16), aged 74. According to a statement shared by his family, Ace – also known as Spaceman – died “peacefully surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey, following a recent fall at his home”. An exact cause of death has yet to be shared.
Among the songs Ace helped write for KISS were classics like ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’, ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’, ‘Detroit Rock City’, ‘Love Gun’ and more, with his former bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley calling him “an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history”.
Cooper has now joined those paying tribute, issuing a statement reflecting on his influence and sound. “The worst part of being in rock ‘n’ roll at this point is the fact that some of our fraternity have just reached that age where… they leave the planet,” he said. “Some of the guys that started 30, 40, 50 years ago are starting to go, and of course Ace Frehley from KISS, one of the pioneers – one of the great guitar players out there.
“Ace was an absolute Guitar hero to so many people. I did more tours with him than anybody else, as far as opening for us, for quite a long time, so we became quite good friends. And you know, he always brought it every night. He did it every night. And it’s just hard to see somebody like that go. We know that right now that the KISS fans are certainly in mourning and certainly his family and certainly everybody that knew him.”
Rounding off his tribute, Cooper simply said: “Ace was an ACE.”
Born Paul Daniel Frehley in New York City in 1951, Frehley co-founded KISS in 1973 with singer Stanley, bassist and part-time singer Simmons and drummer Peter Criss. The members’ identities were famously kept secret until a decade after their debut, by which time Frehley had left the band to pursue a solo career, coupled with his struggles with substance abuse and rising tension within the band about their direction.
In the years following his exit from KISS, Frehley formed a new band, Frehley’s Comet. The band released two albums, both of which failed to achieve commercial success. He reverted to using his own name for this 1989 album ‘Trouble Walkin”, which saw former bandmate Peter Criss provide backing vocals.
Frehley rejoined KISS for their reunion in 1996 and stayed with them until 2002, but did not join them for their farewell world tour in 2022.
Frehley and Simmons had a notably rocky relationship, with Simmons in 2019 claiming that Frehley was fired from the band for his substance abuse, while Ace argued that he was 12 years sober by then and quit “of my own free will, because you and Paul [Stanley] are control freaks, untrustworthy and were too difficult to work with”.
Other rock and music icons have paid tribute to Frehley since the tragic news of his death. Simmons wrote in a standalone post on X: “Our hearts are broken. Ace has passed on. No one can touch Ace’s legacy. I know he loved the fans. He told me many times. Sadder still, Ace didn’t live long enough to be honored at the Kennedy Ctr Honors event in Dec. Ace was the eternal rock soldier. Long may his legacy live on!”
You can check out more tributes to the late guitarist here.
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