Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons said a long pattern of substance-related problems and other "bad decisions" led to guitarist Ace Frehley's fatal fall.
Frehley died on Oct. 16 at age 74 after sustaining a head injury in a stairway fall at his home studio in Morristown, New Jersey.
According to the Morris County medical examiner, Frehley succumbed to a blunt-force head injury caused by the fall. A separate toxicology analysis is expected, the office said.
Simmons, 76, told the New York Post the loss could have been avoided and stemmed from longstanding behavior that he said those close to Frehley had repeatedly tried to address.
"He refused [advice] from people that cared about him — including yours truly — to try to change his lifestyle. In and out of bad decisions," he said.
"Falling down the stairs — I'm not a doctor — doesn't kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart."
Simmons said Frehley's long-running struggles influenced how he viewed the events leading to the guitarist's death.
"The saddest thing — you reap what you shall sow, unfortunately," he said.
Simmons spoke while in Washington, D.C., where band members were receiving a Kennedy Center honor and where he is scheduled to testify in the Senate in support of legislation that would require major radio outlets to pay royalties to performers.
He said he had just attended Frehley's private funeral on Oct. 22, which was attended by the band's surviving founding members.
"It breaks my heart. Peter Criss, our founding drummer, Paul [Stanley] and myself went to the funeral, open casket," Simmons said. "It was just heartbreaking.
"Saddest of all perhaps is that Ace just couldn't stay alive long enough to sit there proudly at the Kennedy Center and listen to — I can't even tell you who's going to come out ... really impressive people, just to say how much Kiss meant to them. What can you say — sad."
Frehley and Simmons had been embroiled in years of public disputes, including friction over Frehley's sobriety and reliability.
Simmons previously told People that the pressures of touring sometimes kept bandmates from addressing serious personal problems.
"Let's just continue doing the tour because you want to get through it for selfish reasons because it's working, and the chicks, and the money, and you don't want to ruin anything," he said. "Meantime, somebody who might be your brother is ruining their life by bad decisions."
Frehley responded in 2019 with an online statement criticizing Simmons' comments about his past conduct and commitment.
"Your slanderous remarks about my bad habits over the years has cost me millions of dollars and now that I'm over 12-years sober you're still saying I can't be trusted to play a whole nights show!" he said at the time.
"Well that's exactly what I've been doing for the last 12-years with different configurations of 'The Ace Frehley Band' to you and Paul's dismay!" he wrote. He warned at the time that without an apology ,"the s*** will hit the fan and they'll [sic] be no stopping it. It's on!"
Frehley's legal and substance issues date back decades, including a 1983 arrest involving charges of driving under the influence, reckless driving, and leaving the scene after a chase on the Bronx River Parkway.
He later underwent court-ordered detox and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Frehley helped form Kiss in 1973, left the group in 1982, returned for a reunion tour in 1996, and stayed until 2002.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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