Ace Frehley had tamed his addiction and had been sober since 2006

As reported, Ace Frehley He died this Thursday, 16th, at the age of 74. The cause of his death, however, had nothing to do with the alcohol and drug abuse that made him famous since the 1970s.

The original guitarist of Kiss suffered a fall in his home studio in the United States at the end of September. He didn’t survive a brain hemorrhage.

Throughout his career, he went through ups and downs due to drug addiction — there were those who bet that he would die because of it. And the musician acknowledged, in a 2017 interview with Stuff.co.nz, that the “lows” in his life were caused by addictions.

At the time, Frehley declared that his countless shows around the world, when he was still part of Kiss, are a “blot” in his memory.

“Most of the time, I didn’t even know where I was. We went from city to city quickly. You spend most of your time in a hotel or at the concert venue. They’re similar to each other, so it became a blur.”

Spaceman, as he was known, stated that he went “crazy” at some periods in his life. It was a “good morning” if he could form a complete sentence or knew where he was going.

In his final years, Ace admitted that it took him a while to remember some passages in his life, even recent ones – a consequence of the years of abuse. Despite this, he celebrated his sobriety because he had no other choice.

“Musicians turn to drugs and alcohol. That was my downfall.”

Ace Frehley, the original guitarist for Kiss

Born April 27, 1951, Paul Daniel “Ace” Frehley He started playing guitar at age 13 and grew up in a musical family. In his youth, he was part of several local bands while juggling jobs as a postman, taxi driver and delivery boy.

In 1972, he responded to an advertisement for a guitarist in a new band. It was selected by Paul Stanley (voice and guitar), Gene Simmons (voice and bass) and Peter Criss (drums) after a curious audition in which he appeared “poorly dressed”, according to his colleagues, but surprised with his performance.

He joined the group that adopted the name Kiss in 1973. Frehley created the persona Spaceman (also Space Ace), painting silver stars on his eyes. The band’s double lightning bolt logo is also his.

Ace initially remained in the lineup until 1982, when, amid problems with drug addiction and conflicts with Stanley and Simmons, he left the group.

After leaving Kiss, he formed Frehley’s Cometwith which he released two albums, and began a solo career. In 1996 he returned to the masked band for a reunion tour, remaining until 2002.

Frehley was introduced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of Kiss. He was credited for 11 of the group’s studio albums, although he did not play on one (Creatures of the Night1982) and its presence in another (Psycho Circus1998) is limited to just a few tracks. He also released eight studio albums as a solo artist.

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