As Kiss tours the world for the final time, Gene Simmons is anticipating the moment the band finally plays its last song — and he's expecting it to be an emotional farewell.
The legendary bassist told Classic Rock that although he was trying not to give it much thought "because we really are having the best time ever" and "we’re playing better than ever," there were going inevitably to be tears.
"I know that at some point there’s going to be that last song that Kiss will ever play on stage, and I know I’ll be crying like a baby and won’t be able to hold back the emotions, because what an amazing journey this has been," he said.
Simmons also discussed his experience of losing his mother Flora Klein and his former manager Bill Aucoin.
Klein was 92 when she died late in 2018. And while losing his mother was heartbreaking, the fact that she lived such a long life provided him comfort. That's not to say her life was always easy.
"She was 14 when our whole family was in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany," Simmons said. "The entire family was wiped out, but my mother survived. I don’t want to get into the specifics of how my grandmother was dragged into the gas chambers right before my mother’s eyes. But what’s stayed with me is my mother’s perspective on life: every day above ground is a good day."
Aucoin's death in 2010 was more traumatic for Simmons.
"He was a great man. And for Paul [Stanley] and me his death was a tragedy," he said. "We didn’t know when we signed with Bill that he was gay. Bill was tortured by his personal life, and when he became ill — from a disease I don’t want to name — he didn’t go to the doctor, and I don’t know if it was out of embarrassment or if he didn’t believe in it. But you were able to treat it."
Shortly after his death, it was reported that Aucoin had battled prostate cancer, and died from surgical complications. Although Simmons did not confirm that during his interview with Classic Rock, he said that Aucoin could have "had a much longer life" and when he and Stanley found out he was dying, they were devastated.
"The empire Aucoin helped build is now in its final stage," Simmons said.
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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