Biography

One of rock's most recognizable frontmen, Paul Stanley has enjoyed a lengthy and extremely successful career as the singer, rhythm guitarist, and co-songwriter for hard rock legends Kiss. With their distinctive face paint, elaborate costumes, and wild pyrotechnics, Kiss combined the foremost elements of 1970s shock rock and glam, elevating them to levels of theatricality previously unseen on stage. With his soaring tenor vocals, over-the-top antics, and Starchild persona, Stanley set a new tone for rock singers that would reverberate well into the age of '80s hair metal and beyond. Along with bassist and co-founder Gene Simmons, he comprises one of rock's more significant creative duos with Stanley-penned songs like "Rock and Roll All Night," "I Was Made for Lovin' You," and "Detroit Rock City" remaining staples of the classic rock canon decades after their release. While the bulk of his career has been devoted to Kiss, he has released a pair of solo albums, 1978's Paul Stanley and 2006's Live to Win, and even ventured into musical theater, starring in a Toronto production of Phantom of the Opera. In 2021, Stanley released a collection of vintage soul and R&B covers along with originals in the same style, marking the debut of his project Paul Stanley's Soul Station. Born on January 20, 1952 in Manhattan, Stanley Eisen grew up in nearby Queens listening to doo wop and the early rock & roll of artists like Eddie Cochran, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis as well as Motown and classic soul. Like many teenagers in the early '60s, he was impacted by the arrival of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and soon began writing his own songs. Also a talented graphic artist, Eisen graduated in 1970 from the specialized High School of Music & Art in Manhattan. He'd already done stints in local bands like Rainbow and the Post War Baby Boom, but his first serious project was a band called Wicked Lester with another young songwriter and bass player named Gene Klein. After their album was shelved by Epic, the two friends adopted the stage names of Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, paired up with drummer Peter Criss and lead guitarist Ace Frehley, and formed Kiss in 1973. From the start, the group had a strong visual aesthetic and theatrical bent, with each member taking on a glam-inspired persona with face paint and outfit to match. Clad in silver and black, with platform boots, and a black star painted over his right eye, Stanley was the Starchild, a look that would soon become a ubiquitous feature on everything from lunch boxes to pinball games. Throughout Kiss' rapid rise to success, Stanley and Simmons were responsible for the lion's share of the songwriting, and during the next few years, Stanley added party rock anthems like "Rock and Roll All Night," "Strutter," "Love Gun," and "I Was Made for Lovin' You" to the band's repertoire. More than just a rock band, Kiss became a global phenomenon with their own comic books and massive lines of merchandise, all the while scaling up arena rock to excessive new heights. When the four group members decided in 1978 to release simultaneous solo albums, Stanley's sounded the most Kiss-like, an indication of his overall influence on their sound. At the decade's end, when their star began to fade somewhat, Stanley was the driving force behind Kiss' decision to remove their makeup and "unmask," ushering in a second wave of popularity that lasted throughout the '80s and yielded hits like "Heaven's on Fire," "Lick it Up," and "Crazy Crazy Nights." Around 1988, Stanley began recording sessions for another solo album, but the project was ultimately shelved. He did, however, do an East Coast solo tour focusing on solo material and rare Kiss tracks. After another down period, Kiss reformed in the late '90s with all four original members and launched a massive comeback tour. Capitalizing on the nostalgia of their heyday, the group remasked and maintained their full stage regalia for this and all subsequent tours. Around this time, Stanley played the starring role in a Toronto run of Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical Phantom of the Opera, an endeavor well-suited to his vocal power and versatility. Although Kiss remained a touring band, no new material was forthcoming, and Stanley took it upon himself to record his long-awaited second solo album, Live to Win, in 2006 and supported it with a tour of club appearances. That same year, he and his Kiss bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Finally, in 2009, he and Simmons announced Sonic Boom, the first new Kiss record since 1998. Both Sonic Boom and its 2012 follow-up, Monster, were produced by Stanley and were aimed at reclaiming some of the band's classic mid-'70s sound. During the latter part of the 2010s, Stanley re-engaged with his love of vintage soul and R&B music and put together a large 15-member touring band called Paul Stanley's Soul Station. Paying tribute to Motown, Philly soul, and acts like Otis Redding and Solomon Burke, he led the group through old '60s and '70s covers and even wrote a handful of originals in the same style. After several years as a live band, he brought Soul Station into the studio and recorded their 2021 debut, Now and Then. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi