Kiss (stylized as KI) is a New York City-based American rock band founded in 1973 by Paul Stanley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass), Ace Frehley (lead guitar, vocals), and Peter Criss (drums, vocals). The group rose to notoriety in the mid-1970s with shock rock-style live performances that included fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, launching rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band’s roster has changed multiple times, with Stanley and Simmons remaining the only constants. Stanley, Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer, and drummer Eric Singer make up the current lineup.
Kiss is widely considered one of the most influential rock bands of all time, as well as one of the best-selling bands of all time, with over 75 million records sold worldwide, including 21 million RIAA-certified albums. Kiss also has the most Gold albums of any American band, at 30. Kiss has 14 Platinum albums, with three of them being multi-Platinum. Kiss’s four original members were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, 2014. Kiss was named the ninth “Greatest Metal Band of All Time” by MTV, the tenth “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” by VH1, and the third “Best Metal and Hard Rock Live Band of All Time” by Loudwire magazine.