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Peter Criss

 
Artist: Peter Criss
 
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Peter Criss

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Influenced By:

Alice Cooper, Bill Ward, Ian Paice, Don Brewer, John Bonham, Noel Redding, Keith Moon, Charlie Watts, Gene Krupa, Ringo Starr, Ginger Baker

Followers:

Blas Elias, Rob Affuso, Rikki Rockett, Tommy Lee, Eric Singer, Vinnie Paul, Sean Kinney, Dave Grohl, Paul Geary, Fred Coury, Randy Castillo, Eric Carr, Charlie Benante, Dale Crover

Worked With:

Eddie Kramer, Bob Ezrin, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley

Formal Connection With:

Paul Stanley, Kiss, Stan Penridge

Relationship With:

Lydia Criss
  • Born: December 20, 1945, Brooklyn, NY
  • Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
  • Genres: Rock
  • Instrument: Vocals
  • Representative Albums: "Let Me Rock You," "Out of Control," "One for All"

Biography

Peter Criss rose to fame in the 1970s as the drummer for theatrical heavy metal-ists Kiss. Born Peter George Criscoula on December 20, 1947, in Brooklyn, NY, Criss got his start drumming after discovering legendary jazz drummer Gene Krupa (which he's rumored to have actually taken lessons from at one point) and such '60s rockers as the Rolling Stones. Playing in local bands throughout the '60s and early '70s, Criss was becoming increasingly fed up when none of his bands went anywhere -- especially after a tryout for Elton John's band didn't pan out and close friend Jerry Nolan landed the drum slot with trash/glam/punk pioneers the New York Dolls. But his luck was just about to change when a pair of fellow New Yorkers answered an ad Criscoula had placed in a music paper, stating "drummer with 11 years experience, willing to do anything."

The pair turned out to be none other than Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons (then known as Stanley Eisen and Gene Klein, respectively), who were in the midst of putting a new group together that would be a reaction against all the then-prevalent boring hippie bands. Criscoula got the gig, soon after changing his name to Peter Criss. After the trio enlisted guitarist Ace Frehley, the quartet agreed on the name Kiss and specialized in high-volume rock, but with a strong melodic edge (courtesy of Simmons and Stanley's admiration of the Beatles). It was also agreed that the bandmembers would choose a "character" and wear makeup and costumes relating to their choice; Criss selected a cat.

After signing with Casablanca Records in 1973, Kiss rocketed to stardom in 1975 with their classic Alive! release -- becoming one of the most popular and instantly recognizable hard rock acts of all time. When Kiss was recording their follow-up to Alive!, 1976's Destroyer, Criss dug up an old song he'd written with one of his previous bands, a heartfelt ballad called "Beck." After changing the title to "Beth," and an orchestral accompaniment was set to the lyrics, the song became a surprise Top Ten smash for the band. Later in the year, it was Criss' Rod Stewart-esque lead vocals that landed the Paul Stanley-penned acoustic "Hard Luck Woman" into the Top 20 as well.

But despite Kiss' wild success, not all was well behind the scenes. Criss admitted in later years that he "O.D.'d on fame" and developed a drug problem in the process, leading to a serious car crash in 1978 and unpredictable behavior. It was that same year that all four members released solo albums, as Criss' disco-laced release hinted that he was moving away from Kiss' familiar hard rock sound. Criss left Kiss in 1980 amid rumors of a breakup swirling (it became known in later years that Criss didn't play on most of 1979's Dynasty and not even a note on 1980's Unmasked, despite being credited on both). Criss automatically launched a solo career with such releases as 1980's Out of Control and 1982's Let Me Rock You, but fans were reluctant to embrace Criss' new, mature soft rock sound (besides the fact that Kiss themselves were experiencing a nosedive in popularity). Criss attempted to resurface with other bands throughout the rest of the '80s (such as the Alliance and Balls of Fire, both of which didn't issue any recordings), but didn't release another album until 1994's independent Criss Cat #1. On a humorous note, Criss appeared on an episode of Phil Donahue in the late '80s when an imposter appeared on the show pretending to be Peter Criss, claiming he was penniless and homeless.

A year later, Kiss fans got their wish when Criss and Frehley (who himself had left the band two years after Criss' exit) reunited with Stanley and Simmons for a taping of MTV's Unplugged. The concert was a success, which led to a permanent re-formation of the original four bandmembers. This resulted in 1996-1997's highly successful Alive Worldwide Tour and their first original album in nearly 20 years, 1998's Psycho Circus (despite the fact that it wasn't Frehley and Criss playing on the entire album). But once again, turmoil lurked right around the corner. After the U.S. leg of Kiss' Farewell Tour wrapped up in late 2000, Criss supposedly had a falling out with Simmons and Stanley over his salary, resulting in his second ousting from the band. To add insult to injury, the group continued their tour with early-'90s Kiss drummer Eric Singer taking Criss' spot behind the drums and donning his cat makeup and costume. Criss began pursuing an acting career, landing a part on the HBO prison series Oz in early 2002. The ambitious and biographical album One for All appeared in 2007. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Peter Criss
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Peter Criss

Criss in 1995
Background information
Birth name George Peter John Criscuola
Born December 20, 1945 (1945-12-20) (age 63)
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genre(s) Hard rock, heavy metal
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s) Drums, vocals
Years active 1970 — present
Label(s) Casablanca, Mercury
Associated acts Kiss, Wicked Lester, Chelsea
Website www.petercriss.net

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

Contents

Early years

An Italian-American, Criss is the eldest of the five children of Joseph and Loretta Criscuola in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York.[1]

He was 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. They 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.

The Catman

Contrary to the story that's been recited by fans and the band for years, there was never an ad placed that said "Drummer willing to do anything to make it."[2] The ad was answered by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, who were looking for new members for their band, Kiss. Ace Frehley was added to the lineup in December 1972, and the band was formed later that month.

Kiss released their self-titled debut in February 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.

Criss was featured on the album sleeve for the 1979 comedy record Lenny and the Squigtones, collection of novelty songs by Michael McKean and David L. Lander, performing as their Laverne & Shirley personnas of Lenny and Squiggy. Criss was billed as drummer "Ming the Merciless," and appeared without his Kiss makeup, [3] although he did not play drums on any of the album.


"Beth"

Criss is given co-writer credit for the ballad "Beth", a Top 10 #7 hit for Kiss in 1976. The song remains the highest-charting song for Kiss in the USA and it earned them a People's Choice Award for "Young People's Favorite New Song" in 1977, tied with "Disco Duck". The song was written before Criss had joined Kiss, while he was still a member of Chelsea. Criss 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 Chelsea guitarist Stan Penridge wrote the song together. "[4]

A bootleg exists of the song from 1971, but the song's title was "Beck", after fellow band member Mike Brand's wife, Becky, who would call often during 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 Di Leonardo; according to interviews with Criss, he changed some of the lyrics to reflect Lydia's lamenting that she missed him while on tour, but the song actually originated years earlier.

Along with "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", "Kissin' Time" and "I Finally Found My Way", with only the first being a live staple for every tour during his time with Kiss; "Dirty Livin'", "Baby Driver", "Hooligan" and "Beth" are 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", and Gene Simmons wrote "Nothin' to Lose").

Departure

Criss struggled with drug abuse 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 he played throughout.

On the 1979 release Dynasty, he only played on his own composition, "Dirty Livin'"[5] and did not play at all on 1980's Unmasked. Anton Fig, who also played on Ace Frehley's solo album (and is now David Letterman's house drummer), was hired to play on both albums.

Paul Stanley, stated in several interviews, and the commentary on KISSOLOGY 2 about Criss' departure. The video for "Shandi", was shot in one day, and Peter was out of the band at that time. "After we finished shooting, Peter packed up his things, and went home."

Gene Simmons made it clear to the fans that Peter Criss was 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 second solo album, Out of Control. Released later in the year, the album was a commercial failure, despite remaining a favorite with Criss fans. The follow-up album, 1981's Let Me Rock You, which contained one song written by Gene Simmons, was a similar failure. The album cover 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. Criss also played with Balls of Fire from the spring of 1986 to December 1986, with Jane Booke on lead vocals, Bob Raylove on bass and JP (John Pakalenka) on guitar, who currently plays for Buckner Funken Jazz in Denver, Colorado. Balls of Fire only played 7 shows before Criss left the band to enjoy his daughter Jenilee growing up.[6] 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 before. 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 Queensrÿche 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 Criss'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 denied by Criss, and two of his ex-wives Debra and Lydia. For years afterward, the rumor still persisted that Criss was broke and sleeping on the streets. Criss later sued the Star and they settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[7]

Return to Kiss

In 1995, Criss appeared at the official Kiss Konvention in Los Angeles that led to 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 arose when it was discovered that Criss only played drums on one track- "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," written by guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley and Bob Ezrin.

Tensions arose once again between Criss and Kiss. On October 7, 2000, at the end of the band's show in North Charleston, SC, Criss destroyed his drum kit on stage. Though fans thought it was part of the act, it was in reality an act of frustration on Criss' part.[8] It was his last show on the tour, as he left over a contract dispute and was replaced by Eric Singer in 2001. He rejoined the band in late 2002 and appeared on the Kiss Symphony: Alive IV DVD and CD before departing again in March 2004. The band had opted not to renew his contract following the Rocksimus Maximus Tour (which had them co-headlining with Aerosmith). He was once again replaced by Singer, who continues to perform with the band today assuming Criss' "Catman" persona.

Peter Criss on Kiss performing with replacements for Ace Frehley and himself:

“ No matter who they get to put stuff on their face, it ain’t us. You can take the mask off the Lone Ranger and put it on someone else, but it ain’t the Lone Ranger.[9] ”


Drum kit

Criss is an endorser of Avedis Zildjian cymbals, Pro-Mark sticks, DW drums and Remo drum heads[10] drums DW collectors series maple in broken glass: Bass drum:

  • 18" X 22"

Rack Toms:

  • 5" X 8"
  • 6" X 8"
  • 7" X 8"
  • 8" X 8"
  • 13 X 15"
  • 8" X 10"
  • 9" X 12"
  • 10" X 13"

Floor Toms:

  • 11" X 14"
  • 15" X 16"

Snare:

  • 6" X 14" edge snare

Cymbals:

  • 20" medium ride
  • 19" medium crash
  • 12" fast splash
  • 18" medium crash
  • 15" new beat hi-hats
  • 16" medium crash
  • 18" medium thin crash
  • 19" medium thin crash
  • 17" medium crash
  • 16" medium thin crash

Post Kiss

Since 2004, Criss has kept his public appearances to a minimum. Criss now resides in Wall Township, New Jersey.[11] He released a solo album—One for All—July 24, 2007, on Silvercat Records.

According to an interview with 40º74º Magazine, Peter Criss is working on a follow-up album to One for All, where he currently has 15 songs recorded for the release. Additionally, Criss is working on his autobiography.[12]

As of November 2008, Criss has been married three times: Lydia Di Leonardo (from 1970 to 1979), Debra Jensen (from 1979 to 1984) and Gigi Criss (from May 1998 to present). He also has a daughter named Jenilee, born in 1981.

Acting

In addition to playing himself in 1978's KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, Criss has appeared on two television programs in minor roles and is set to appear in an upcoming film. In 1998 he appeared as "Nice Cop" on a Season 3 episode of Millenium and in 2002 Criss appeared in two episodes of the HBO prison drama Oz as inmate Martin Montgomery. He also plays the role of Mike in the motion picture about the JFK assasination, Frame of Mind.[13]

Discography

Chelsea

Kiss

Solo

Notes and references

  1. ^ Leaf, David (2003). Kiss. New York: Warner Books. pp. 22. ISBN 9780446530736. http://books.google.com/books?id=FhwalgkD8t4C&pg=PA22. 
  2. ^ Gill, Julian. The Kiss Album Focus, Volume 1 (3rd Edition). Xlibris Corporation, 2005. ISBN 1-4134-8547-2
  3. ^ Kiss Related Recordings; Peter Criss (as Ming The Merciless) : Lenny and Squiggy - Lenny and the Squigtones1979
  4. ^ David Leaf,Ken Sharp Kiss: Behind the Mask - Official Authorized Biography Warner Books, 2005ISBN 978-0446695244Page268
  5. ^ "Criss Q and A". http://www.petercriss.net/homepage/sub/drumqa/default.htm. Retrieved on 1-22-2009. 
  6. ^ "Kiss related recordings-Balls of Fire". http://www.kiss-related-recordings.nl/petercriss_ballsoffire.html. Retrieved on February 8, 2009. 
  7. ^ "Artistopia-Homeless Urban Legend Peter Criss". http://www.artistopia.com/peter-criss. Retrieved on February 8, 2009. 
  8. ^ Peter Criss Smashes His Drum Kit
  9. ^ "Interview by Mark Voger". http://www.app.com/4074/august2008/features/petercriss.html. Retrieved on 1-16-2009. 
  10. ^ "Peter's drum page". http://www.petercriss.net/homepage/sub/reunionkit/. Retrieved on 1-23-2009. 
  11. ^ Parry, Wayne via the Associated Press."2008 resolutions from Yogi, The Donald, a rock star and more", Burlington County Times, December 28, 2007. Accessed September 1, 2008. "'I have a big mouth for a lot of people, but I never take my own advice and do it myself,' said Criss, who lives in Wall Township and is best known for the ballad "Beth" and his Catman makeup."
  12. ^ Voger, Mark, 40º74º Magazine, August 2008
  13. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0188028/
  14. ^ Criss performed on only one song, "Dirty Livin'."
  15. ^ Vocals on "You Wanted The Best" and lead vocal on "I Finally Found My Way"

External links

Preceded by
Original		 Drummer for Kiss
1973–1980		 Succeeded by
Eric Carr
Preceded by
Eric Singer		 Drummer for Kiss
1996–2001		 Succeeded by
Eric Singer
Preceded by
Eric Singer		 Drummer for Kiss
2002–2004		 Succeeded by
Eric Singer
v • d • e
Kiss
Paul Stanley · Gene Simmons · Tommy Thayer · Eric Singer
Peter Criss · Ace Frehley · Eric Carr · Vinnie Vincent · Mark St. John · Bruce Kulick
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations and box-sets
Videos and DVDs
Tribute albums
Hard to Believe · Kiss My Ass · A Tribute to the Creatures of the Night · Kiss My Grass: A Hillbilly Tribute to Kiss · Spin the Bottle · Gods Of Thunder-A Norwegian Tribute To Kiss · Lick It Up · Kiss My Ankh
Singles
Concert Tours
Related articles
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Peter Criss
Bands
Solo Discography

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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