Gene Simmons

Simmons married Canadian actress and model Shannon Tweed on October 1, 2011, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, after living together since 1983. The couple have two children, son Nick and daughter Sophie. Prior to his relationship with Tweed, Simmons had high-profile romantic relationships with singers Cher and Diana Ross.

Simmons has maintained a lifelong commitment to sobriety, choosing to abstain completely from alcohol and illicit drug use. He has stated that his devotion to living clean stems from his deep respect for his mother, wanting to avoid causing pain to a woman who had already survived the trauma of the Holocaust.

Simmons was born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949, in Haifa, Israel, to Hungarian Jewish immigrants Ferenc "Feri" Yehiel Witz and Flóra Kovács (later known as Florence Klein). His mother and her brother Larry were the only members of their immediate family to survive internment in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Raised in Tirat Carmel, Simmons grew up in severe poverty. Following his parents' separation, his father stayed in Israel, while eight-year-old Simmons and his mother immigrated to the United States in 1958, settling in Queens, New York.

After arriving in the United States, he adopted the name Gene Klein. He attended the Yeshiva Torah Vodaas seminary briefly before enrolling in public schools and graduating from Newtown High School. Simmons went on to earn an associate degree in education from Sullivan County Community College and completed his Bachelor of Arts in Education at Richmond College in Staten Island in 1970. Before embarking on a full-time music career, he held various jobs in New York City, working as an assistant to an editor at Vogue magazine and teaching sixth grade on the Upper West Side.

Inspired early on by the American television appearance of The Beatles, Simmons played in local groups such as The Missing Links, Long Island Sounds, and Bullfrog Bheer. In the early 1970s, he joined forces with Stanley Eisen (Paul Stanley) in the band Wicked Lester. When their recorded album was shelved by Epic Records, Simmons and Stanley left the group to build a new band, placing ads that brought drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley into the fold to complete the founding lineup of Kiss in 1973.

Kiss distinguished itself through dramatic stage makeup and outlandish costumes. Simmons took on the persona of "The Demon," donning bat-wing eye makeup inspired by the Marvel comic character Black Bolt, spitting theatrical blood, and breathing fire. After releasing early studio albums, Kiss achieved a breakthrough with their 1975 live release Alive!, which produced the hit "Rock and Roll All Nite." A sequence of multi-platinum albums followed, including Destroyer (1976), Rock and Roll Over (1976), and Love Gun (1977), establishing Kiss as one of the most commercially dominant rock acts in the world.

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, original members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley departed, replaced respectively by drummer Eric Carr and a series of guitarists, eventually solidifying with Bruce Kulick. In 1983, the group made the commercial choice to perform without their iconic makeup, leading to sustained platinum-selling releases including Asylum (1985) and Crazy Nights (1987). Following Carr's death in 1991, Eric Singer joined on drums, and the band released Revenge in 1992.

In 1996, Simmons and Stanley reunited with Criss and Frehley in full costume and makeup for the Alive Worldwide tour, which became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of that year. Later tours featured guitarist Tommy Thayer and Singer in place of Frehley and Criss. In 2014, the original quartet was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Kiss completed their final worldwide farewell tour in 2023.

Simmons developed an active career on screen, making his feature film debut as villain Dr. Charles Luther in Michael Crichton's science fiction thriller Runaway (1984). He followed with appearances in Trick or Treat (1986), Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987), and Detroit Rock City (1999), as well as guest spots on television shows such as Miami Vice and Third Watch.

In 2006, Simmons and his family began starring in the reality series Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which aired on A&E for seven seasons. Beyond performing, Simmons founded Simmons Records, published books including his autobiography Kiss and Make-Up and Me, Inc., and managed licensing and marketing ventures across numerous industries, ranging from sports teams to hospitality and film production companies.