Ace Frehley, Kiss' original lead guitarist and founding member, dies at 74

Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and founding member of the glam rock band Kiss, who captivated audiences with his elaborate galactic makeup and smoking guitar, died Thursday. He was 74.

Frehley died peacefully surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey, following a recent fall, according to his agent.

Family members said in a statement that they are “completely devastated and heartbroken” but will cherish his laughter and celebrate the kindness he bestowed upon others.

Kiss, whose hits included “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You," was known for its theatrical stage shows, with fire and fake blood spewing from the mouths of band members dressed in body armor, platform boots, wigs and signature black-and-white face paint.

Kiss' original lineup included Frehley, singer-guitarist Paul Stanley, tongue-wagging bassist Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss. Frehley’s is the first death among the four founding members.

Band members took on the personas of comic book-style characters — Frehley was known as “Space Ace” and “The Spaceman.” The New York-born entertainer and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer often experimented with pyrotechnics, making his guitars glow, emit smoke and shoot rockets from the headstock.

“We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley,” Simmons and Stanley said in a joint statement. “He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy.”

Born Paul Daniel Frehley, he grew up in a musical family and began playing guitar at age 13. Before joining Kiss, he played in local bands around New York City and was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix at age 18.

Kiss was especially popular in the mid-1970s, selling tens of millions of albums and licensing its iconic look to become a marketing marvel. “Beth” was its biggest commercial hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1976.

As the Kennedy Center’s new chairman, President Donald Trump named Kiss as one of this year’s honorees.

In 2024, the band sold their catalog, brand name and intellectual property to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment Group in a deal estimated to be over $300 million.

Frehley frequently feuded with Stanley and Simmons through the years. He left the band in 1982, missing the years when they took off the makeup and had mixed success. Stanley later said they nearly replaced Frehley with Eddie Van Halen, but Vinnie Vincent assumed the lead guitar role.

Frehley performed both as a solo artist and with his band, Frehley’s Comet.

But he rejoined Kiss in the mid-1990s for a triumphant reunion and restoration of their original style that came after bands including Nirvana, Weezer and the Melvins had expressed affection for the band and paid them musical tributes.

He would leave again in 2002. When the original four entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, a dispute scrapped plans for them to perform. Simmons and Stanley objected to Criss and Frehley being inducted instead of then-guitarist Tommy Thayer and then-drummer Eric Singer.

Simmons told Rolling Stone magazine that year that Frehley and Criss “no longer deserve to wear the paint.” “The makeup is earned,” he added. “Just being there at the beginning is not enough.”

Frehley and Kiss also had a huge influence on the glammy style of 1980s so-called hair metal bands including Mötley Crüe and Poison.

“Ace, my brother, I surely cannot thank you enough for the years of great music, the many festivals we’ve done together and your lead guitar on Nothing But A Good Time,” Poison front man Bret Michaels said on Instagram.

Harder-edged bands like Metallica and Pantera were also fans, and even country superstar Garth Brooks joined the band members for a recording of their “Hard Luck Woman” on a 1994 compilation.

Frehley would appear occasionally with Kiss for shows in later years. A 2023 concert at Madison Square Garden was billed as the band’s last. While Stanley and Simmons said they would not tour again, they’ve been open to the possibility of more concerts, and they’ve stayed active promoting the group’s music and memorabilia.

FILE - Members of the rock group Kiss, from left, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley, pose for pictures during a news conference Friday, Jan. 29, 1999, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. (AP Photo/Ron Heflin, File)

FILE - Ace Frehley, lead guitarist for the hard-rock glam band KISS, performs with a Les Paul guitar during a concert at the Civic Center in Harford, Conn., Feb. 16, 1977. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Paul Stanley, right, and Ace Frehley of the rock band Kiss perform during their sold-out Halloween concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2009 file photo, former KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley plays the national anthem before an NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Giants in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson, File)

FILE - Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley, right, guitarist Ace Frehley, center, and bassist Gene Simmons play during the band's farewell concert in the Detroit area, Thursday, May 25, 2000, at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.. (AP Photo/Paul Warner, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City police sergeant is set to be sentenced Thursday for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died.

The ex-officer, Erik Duran, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey. The former sergeant, who said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter, faces up to 15 years in prison.

The case has animated police on one hand and accountability activists on the other. Duran's union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, says thousands of officers have signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison. Meanwhile, a couple of dozen protesters demonstrated outside a Bronx courthouse Thursday to demand justice for Duprey.

Duran was part of a narcotics policing group that conducted a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on Aug. 23, 2023. Police said Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter.

Surveillance video showed Duprey driving the motorized scooter on a sidewalk toward a group of people. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who wasn't in uniform — picked up a bystander's cooler and thew it.

The container full of ice, water and sodas struck Duprey. He lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement.

Duprey, 30, wasn't wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantly, according to prosecutors with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office.

They argued that Duran had enough time to warn others to move but instead hurled the cooler because he was angry.

Duran, however, testified that he made a split-second decision to keep other officers safe from the scooter speeding toward them.

“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran said in court, adding that “all I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions.”

He testified that he immediately tried to help Duprey after seeing the crash and the extent of the man's injuries.

Duran opted to have a judge, not a jury, decide the case. Judge Guy Mitchell found him guilty, saying that his status as a police officer “has no bearing” on the case.

But Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong has said the conviction sent “a terrible message to hard-working cops” about the costs of defending themselves and fellow officers.

Duran was a New York Police Department officer for 13 years before he was suspended after the crash. He was dismissed from the force after his conviction this past February.

Duprey worked as a delivery driver and had three young children. His mother, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, disputed the police claims that he sold drugs and fled from officers.

A lawyer for Duprey's family, Jon Roberts, said they are “hopeful that the court will do justice for Eric and the loss that the entire family has endured and hope that this marks the beginning of the healing process.”

FILE - Gretchen Soto, the mother of Eric Duprey, speaks outside the Bronx Criminal Court in New York, Feb. 6, 2026, after New York police officer Erik Duran was convicted of manslaughter after he tossed a picnic cooler filled with drinks at a fleeing Duprey, causing him to fatally crash his motorized scooter. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)

FILE - New York police officer Erik Duran, who is charged with hurling a plastic cooler at a man fleeing officers on a motorized scooter, causing a crash that killed the driver, arrives to his manslaughter trial at the Bronx Criminal Court in New York, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)