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Peter Criss

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Peter Criss

George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known as Peter Criss, is an American musician best known as co-founder, drummer and vocalist for the rock band KISS. Criss established the "cat" character for his KISS persona.

Early years

Criss was a gang member in his teen years, according to an article in Spin Magazine, and as he tells the story, when his grandmother caught him making weapons for a rumble, she broke a broomstick over his head. He is the eldest of the five children of Joseph and Loretta Criscuola in Brooklyn, New York.

Despite his hoodlum mentality, he was also an avid art student and a jazz aficionado. While playing with bandleader Joey Greco, Criss ended up studying under his idol, Gene Krupa, at the Metropole Club in New York. This blossomed into an active musical career as he went on to play jazz and rock with a number of bands in New York and New Jersey throughout the 1960s.

Criss was involved with a number of bands throughout the mid-to-late 1960s. In late 1960s, Criss joined Chelsea, who had a two-album deal with Decca Records. The group released a self-titled album in 1970. The group never recorded a second album, and in August 1971 became Lips (a trio consisting of Criss, as well as Chelsea bandmates Michael Benvenga and Stan Penridge). By the Spring of 1973, Lips was just the duo of Criss and Penridge.

KISS

After the demise of his band, Lips, Criss placed an ad in the East Coast edition of Rolling Stone, which read:

EXPD. ROCK & roll drummer looking for orig. grp. doing soft & hard music. Peter, Brooklyn.

Contrary to the story that has been recited by fans and by the band for years, there was never an ad placed that said "Drummer willing to do anything to make it."[1] The ad was answered by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, who were looking for new members for their band, Wicked Lester. Ace Frehley was added to the lineup in December 1972, and the band was renamed KISS later that month.

KISS released their self-titled debut in February of 1974. Throughout his KISS career, Criss was lead vocalist on several notable songs including "Black Diamond", "Hard Luck Woman", and their breakthrough hit "Beth". Many of Criss' contributions to KISS were written with the help of Stan Penridge, who was a bandmate of Criss' in Chelsea and Lips.

"Beth"

Criss is given co-writer credit for the ballad "Beth", which was a Top 10 #1 hit for KISS in 1976. The song remains the number one hit song for KISS in the USA and it earned them a People's Choice Award for "Young People's Favorite New Song" in 1977 which had tied with "Disco Duck". The song was written before Peter had joined KISS, while he was in a band named Chelsea. Peter came up with the melody for the song while on a train to New York City from New Jersey where the band practiced. He and a fellow band member of Chelsea, guitarist Stan Penridge, wrote the song together. "[2] Later, the two would form a band named Lips.

A bootleg exists of the song from 1971, but the song's title was "Beck", named after fellow band member, Mike Brand's wife, Becky who would call often during their practices to ask Mike when he was coming home. Years later, while in KISS, both Bob Ezrin and Gene Simmons are credited for changing the song's title to, "Beth". The song was said to be a tribute to Criss' wife Lydia, and according to interviews with Peter, he had changed some of the lyrics to reflect some of Lydia's lamenting that she missed him while on tour, but the song originated years earlier with the band Chelsea.

Among Beth, other songs he sang in KISS were Black Diamond, Hard Luck Woman, Dirty Livin', Nothin' to Lose, Mainline, Strange Ways, Getaway, Baby Driver, Hooligan, and I Finally Found My Way, with only the first one being a live staple for every tour during his time with KISS and Dirty Livin', Baby Driver, Hooligan and Beth being the only ones he co-wrote (Paul Stanley wrote Black Diamond, Hard Luck Woman, Mainline, and I Finally Found My Way) (Ace Frehley wrote Strange Ways and Getaway) (Gene Simmons wrote Nothin' to Lose).

Departure

Criss struggled with alcoholism through many of the years he was in the band. Although he was always credited as drummer, 1977's Love Gun was the last Kiss album on which Criss played throughout.

On the 1979 release Dynasty, he played only on his own composition, "Dirty Livin'" and did not play at all on 1980's Unmasked. Anton Fig, now David Letterman's house drummer, was hired to play on both albums.

For years it was announced that Peter Criss left KISS to pursue a solo career but he was indeed fired.

Solo career

Although Criss officially left KISS in May 1980, his involvement with the band had ceased by December 1979. In March 1980, he began recording his first solo album, Out of Control. Released later in the year, the album was a commercial failure despite remaining a favorite with fans of Criss. So too was the followup album, 1982's Let Me Rock You, which contained one song written by Gene Simmons. The album cover for Let Me Rock You featured Criss without his KISS makeup but was not released in the U.S. at the time.

For the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s, Criss was involved with a number of bands (each usually lasting less than a year). One of them was The Keep, which featured ex-KISS guitarist Mark St. John. While KISS were promoting their upcoming release Crazy Nights, Criss appeared on the syndicated radio program Metal Shop and discussed his time in KISS from a more positive perspective than previously. Criss briefly reunited with former KISS bandmate Ace Frehley on Frehley's 1989 album Trouble Walkin' (singing and playing percussion on one track). In the early '90s, Criss assembled a band named "Criss," which would feature future Queensryche guitarist Mike Stone. This band released the Criss EP in December 1993 and the Cat #1 album in August 1994. The group also supported Frehley's band on the 1995 "Bad Boys Tour."

The homeless urban legend

In the late 1980s, an urban legend circulated that Criss was a homeless alcoholic, culminating in a 1989 Star Magazine article that appeared to lend credence to the notion. Jeffrey Scott Holland paid tribute to Peter's alleged plight by painting his portrait in an alley with a bottle in his hand, and Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold began a campaign to try to rescue Criss. Barr and Arnold had discovered a homeless man living under a bridge who had claimed to be Criss, but it was later revealed to be a hoax. The hoaxer, Christopher Dickinson, appeared with the real Criss on The Phil Donahue Show in 1991. On the same show, there was a woman who claimed to also have had an affair with Criss back in 1982, which was vehemently denied by Criss (and his ex wife who called in to the show). For years afterward, the belief still persisted that Peter was broke and sleeping on the streets. Criss later sued the Star[1] and they settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Return to KISS

In 1995, Criss appeared at official KISS Konventions and at the KISS live performance that was recorded for MTV Unplugged. In April 1996, KISS held a press conference to announce a reunion tour with all four original members. The 1996–97 Alive/Worldwide Tour was an enormous success, and the reunited KISS released a studio album, 1998's Psycho Circus. However, controversy would arise when it was discovered that Criss only played on one track, which was "Into the Void," Ace Frehley's one lead vocal track. Many sources claim that Kevin Valentine performed on the rest of the drum tracks for the album. Criss did have one lead vocal, a track called "I Finally Found My Way to You," which was written by guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley and Bob Ezrin.

Criss remained a member of KISS until 2001, when he left over a contract dispute, and was replaced by Eric Singer. He rejoined the band in 2002, and would appear on the KISS Symphony DVD and CD before departing again in March 2004 when Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons opted not to renew his contract. He was once again replaced by Singer who continues to perform with the band today.

Since 2004, Criss has kept his public appearances to a minimum. Criss now resides in Wall Township, New Jersey. He released a solo album—One for All—July 24, 2007, on Silvercat Records, which highlights his songwriting skills and soulfull raspy voice that many KISS fans love.

Trivia

  • His favorite movie is the Aristocats.
  • His favorite Broadway show is Cats.
  • His favorite song is "Cat Scratch Fever" by the Nuge.
  • His favorite show is Pizza Cats.
  • His favorite villain i Cat Woman, who which he had two children with.
  • His favorite singer is Kat Stevens.
  • His favorite is Bobcat Goldstein.
  • His favorite candy is Kit Kat.
  • He once lived in an alley and was raised by alley cats.


Discography

Chelsea

  • Chelsea (1970)[3]

KISS

File:Criss Cat 1.jpg
Cat #1 (1994)

Solo

As Peter Criss

As Criss

Notes and references

  1. ^ Gill, Julian. The KISS Album Focus, Volume 1 (3rd Edition). Xlibris Corporation, 2005. ISBN 1-4134-8547-2
  2. ^ David Leaf,Ken Sharp KISS: Behind the Mask - Official Authorized Biography Warner Books, 2005ISBN 978-0446695244Page268
  3. ^ Credited as Peter Cris.
  4. ^ Criss performed on only one song, "Dirty Livin'."
  5. ^ Although Criss is shown on the cover art and appeared in the music video for "Shandi", the album's only single, he did not participate in the recording of the album.
  6. ^ Vocals on "You Wanted The Best" and lead vocal on "I Finally Found My Way"
Preceded by
Original
 Drummer for Kiss
1973–1980 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Drummer for Kiss
1996–2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Drummer for Kiss
2002–2004 		Succeeded by
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