Encyclopedia of KISS: Music, Personnel, Events and Related Subjects

Encyclopedia of KISS: Music, Personnel, Events and Related Subjects

The self-proclaimed "Hottest Band in the World," KISS is one of the most popular groups in the history of rock, having sold more than 100 million albums during their more than 40-year reign. With more gold albums than any other American band, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. KISS influenced a generation of musicians, from Garth Brooks and Motley Crue to Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The original leather-clad, makeup-wearing line-up--Ace "Spaceman" Frehley, Gene "Demon" Simmons, Paul "Starchild" Stanley and Peter "Catman" Criss--and their classic hits "Beth" and "Rock and Roll All Nite" are forever etched in pop culture consciousness. This encyclopedia of all things KISS provides detailed information on their songs, albums, tours, television and movie appearances, merchandise, solo work and much more, including replacement members Eric Carr, Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick, Mark St. John, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. *I keep it near my favorite chair in the family room and pop it open quite a bit...it's a fun book I think fans will like...it's chock-full of great information...great job on the research. - MarkCicchini, co-host of 3 Sides of the Coin podcast *Good unofficial KISS book...a good read for KISS fans. - BillStarkey, co-founder of the KISS Army *A great book...a fun read...definitely a different kind of book. - MichaelBrandvold, co-host of 3 Sides of the Coin podcast *Terrific read...incredibly well-written and thorough in its examination of All Things KISS...author Brett Weiss has been exhaustive in his research...a great book. -Ross"Chaim" Berg, author of Gene Simmons: A Rock 'N Roll Journey in the Shadow of the Holocaust *Encyclopedia of KISS is world-class; Weiss has done his research very, very well. All areas are covered with enthusiasm and energy. - metal-rules.com Brett Weiss has gone through the entire history of KISS...a nice encyclopedia...great stuff. - Mitch Lafon, host of Rock Talk with Mitch Lafon Exhaustive, expansive and extremely detailed, Weiss delivers a fascinating and fun 236-page factoid treasure trove for die-hard fans of the self-proclaimed Hottest Band in the World... his honest enthusiasm and pure passionate for our "fab four" drips from each page. - Christopher Long, author of SHOUT IT OUT LOUD - Stories of Fast Times and Faith, From the Show Biz Guru I spent hours, yes,hours reading through it. I went on a fact finding mission. I looked up variousitems that I thought would be rare or not commonly known, and it's in there.For example, Lyn Christopher, where Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons recordedbacking vocals, but most didn't know Peter Criss was on that record and hadn'tmet Stanley and Simmons yet. That's in there. I looked for the RI based authorsof a Kiss collectible guide, The Kiss Collectibles: Identification And PriceGuide by John & Karen Lesniewski, and found it. I kind of thought that wasan obscure item as they were from RI and was kind of a local vibe. Those arejust some examples I was looking for. Overall, you will see it pretty muchcovers everything. - Seth's Rock Report (sethsrockreport.com) I spent two years tracking down every bit of KISS information I could find. It's all in the book. A KISS fan since 1975, Brett Weiss has been a professionally writer for more than20 years. He's the author of nine books: Encyclopedia of KISS, How to GetPublished: 50 Successful Query Letters; The 100 Greatest Console Video Games:1977-1987; Retro Pop Culture A to Z: From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films; TheArcade and Other Strange Tales; Classic Home Video Games 1972-1984; ClassicHome Video Games 1985-1988; Classic Home Video Games 1989-1990; and The SNESOmnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M).   In addition, Weiss has written more than 1500 publishedarticles in such publications as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The MiamiHerald, The Sacramento Bee and The Charlotte Observer, The Writer, MysteryScene, AntiqueWeek, Antique Trader, Fangoria, Filmfax, Game Informer, VideoGame Trader, Classic Gamer Magazine, the Comics Buyer's Guide, Toy Shop, ToyCars & Models, Back Issue magazine, Alter Ego, Robot magazine, and NativePeoples, among many others. Weiss also has a national column in AntiqueWeekcalled The Pop Culture Collective.   When not writing, Weiss enjoys reading, hiking, cycling,playing basketball and tennis, watching movies, going to museums, collectingvideo games, listening to rock 'n roll, and hanging out with his family.   Weiss lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his lovely wife, two crazy dogs,and a fat cat. He loves it when his kids come home from college to visit.