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KISS will honor the memory of their late bandmate Ace Frehley by leaving an empty chair in his name when they are celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors next month.
The legendary rock band is among this year’s honorees for the prestigious award, which recognizes artists whose work has profoundly shaped culture and the arts. They’ll be honored alongside Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor, George Strait, and Sylvester Stallone at the ceremony on December 7 in Washington, D.C.
Frehley, the band’s original lead guitarist, passed away at age 74 on October 16 following complications from a fall. His death deeply affected his former bandmates, who performed together for decades and helped define KISS’s iconic sound and image.
At a recent performance in California on November 9, bassist and co-frontman Gene Simmons paid tribute to his longtime friend during his solo set. “Somebody I’ve known for many decades who started the band with us — a guy named Ace Frehley,” Simmons said to the crowd. “Very sad. Paul [Stanley], Peter [Criss], and I went to Ace’s funeral. The saddest part is that Ace didn’t live long enough to join us on December 7, when the president and everyone will be there to honor KISS.”
Simmons confirmed that Garth Brooks will perform KISS’s 1976 anthem “Shout It Out Loud” in tribute during the event. “In Ace’s memory,” he added, “we’re going to leave one of the four chairs empty with his name on it — because he deserves to be there in spirit, even if he can’t be there physically.”
Simmons then dedicated his next performance, “Cold Gin,” the first song Frehley ever wrote for KISS, to his late bandmate.
SOURCE: Music News