Paul Stanley

Paul Stanley is an American musician and songwriter who sang lead and played rhythm guitar in the hard rock band Kiss, which he helped found and which was active from 1973 to 2023. Born in Queens, New York, he played in local groups before joining Gene Simmons's band Wicked Lester in the early 1970s; when that group fell apart, he and Simmons built a new lineup with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley and released Kiss's self-titled debut album in 1974. Performing as the Starchild, he wrote or co-wrote much of the band's best-known material. His solo records include Paul Stanley and, much later, Live to Win from 2006, the year he toured theaters in support of it; he also formed Paul Stanley's Soul Station. In 1999 he played the title role in a Toronto staging of The Phantom of the Opera, and in 2014 he entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Kiss.