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GENE SIMMONS

KISS Frontman / Entrepreneur

STATUS - FIRED

Gene Simmons was born in Haifa, Israel, in 1949 and is the only child of his mother, a German Nazi concentration camp survivor. He has always attributed his ethics, morals and drive to his mother's notion's about life. "Every day above ground, is a good day," his mother is apt to say. Every day above ground, indeed.

He came to America at eight-and-a-half years of age. He graduated State University (NYSU) and City University (CUNY) and got a Bachelor of Education degree.

He taught sixth grade in Spanish Harlem in New York City. He then became the Assistant to the Director of the Puerto Rican InterAgency Council, a government funded research and demonstration project. He worked at Glamour and then at Vogue, as the assistant to the editor Kate Lloyd.

Simmons speaks a few languages: English, Hungarian, Hebrew, German and is getting better at Japanese every day. At present, he is becoming fascinated by Mandarin Chinese and has every intention of becoming fluent in it. Make no mistake about it. He will.

Gene Simmons co-founded KISS more than 30 years ago. KISS continues to be the juggernaut of licensing/merchandising, with over 2,500 licenses. KISS has broken box office records set by the Beatles and Elvis and continues stronger than ever. KISS has been America's number one Gold Record Award-winning group of all time. (RIAA).

Simmons also discovered Van Halen and produced their 15-song demo and managed the recording careers of, among others, Liza Minnelli. He produced New Line Pictures' "Detroit Rock City" and appeared in movies such as "Runaway" (Tristar) and "Wanted Dead or Alive" (New World), "New Guy" (Revolution) and television series such as "Third Watch" (NBC), "Miami Vice" (NBC) and scores of others. He has written two New York Times Best Selling Books, "Kiss and Makeup" (Crown) and "Sex, Money, Kiss" (Simmons Books/New Millenium).

His entrepreneurial, producing and publishing ventures also include:

SIMMONS ABRAMSON MARKETING, the Worldwide Marketing Branding entity for the INDYCAR SERIES. All 18 races, including the legendary INDY 500.

Simmons Abramson brands/markets FRANK'S ENERGY DRINK.

NGTV.COM - the monster of the dot coms, with over 70 million views in 4 weeks. Gene Simmons is Chairman of the Board. Rich Abramson is co-CEO. Both raised the funding and Gene branded the entity NO GOOD TV. Venture is headed by President and Founder Kourosh Taj and Jay Vir.

Gene Simmons MONEYBAG - his own clothing line: a joint venture with DUSSAULT Custom Ink.

SIMMONS COMICS GROUP - a joint venture with IDW Pub, features 4 new comic books created by Gene: DOMINATRIX comics, ZIPPER comics, INDY: RACE OF THE GALAXIES comic and his anthology comic book Gene Simmons HOUSE OF HORRORS. NICK SIMMONS also debuts with his own written/drawn comic book, SKULLDUGGERY on IDW Pub.

SIMMONS RECORDS, his own record company, with new artist BAG released.

SIMMONS BOOKS, which published his LA Times Best Seller, "Sex Money Kiss" and the upcoming new books, "Gene Simmons Art of War" and "Ladies of the Night."

SIMMONS AUDIO VISUAL, which released his "Speaking in Tongues" Lecture Tour of Australia.

GENE SIMMONS TONGUE (Sterling/McFadden) - published his own magazine.

The reality shows "Gene Simmons Rock School" for VH1 and "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" for A&E featuring his business, his life and his family. He is also creator and executive producer of the smash cartoon "My Dad the Rock Star" for Nickelodeon and creator of "Mr. Romance" for Oxygen.

Gene Simmons has never been married. He has had live-in relationships with Cher and Diana Ross. He has been happily unmarried for 23 years to Shannon Tweed, the mother of his two beautiful children. He lives in Beverly Hills, California. A Gene Simmons US Postage Stamp is available at your local Post Office.