Peter Criss: Difference between revisions

{{short description|American drummer and singer (born 1945)}}

'''George Peter John Criscuola''' (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name '''Peter Criss''', is a retired American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and an occasional vocalist of the [[hard rock]] band [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]]. Criss established the '''The Catman''' character for his Kiss persona. In 2014, he was inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] as a member of Kiss.<ref>{{cite web|title=KISS|url=https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/kiss|website=Rock & Roll Hall of Fame|access-date=April 16, 2018}}</ref>

The advertisement was answered by [[Paul Stanley]] and [[Gene Simmons]], who were looking for new members for their band. [[Ace Frehley]] was added to the lineup in December 1972, and the band was named Kiss later that month. However, Simmons describes first meeting Criss in his book ''Kiss And Make-Up'' thusthusly:

Simmons later in the chapter describes going to a small Italian Clubclub in Brooklyn to meet the drummer: "The drummer started to sing, and this [[Wilson Pickett]]-style voice came out of him. Paul and I said, 'That's it, that's our drummer.' His name was Peter Criscuola."

Kiss released [[Kiss (Kiss album)|their self-titled debut]] in February 1974. Throughout the band's initial original lineup, Paul and Gene would sing the majority of the songs on each studio album, with AcePeter, and Peterlater Ace, contributing tovocals for one or two songs. Throughout his Kiss career, in his original tenure and on the Reunion-era album ''[[Psycho Circus]]'', Criss was the lead singer on several songs which turned out to be radio-hit and/or live favorites, including "[[Black Diamond (Kiss song)|Black Diamond]]", "[[Hard Luck Woman]]", and their breakthrough hit "[[Beth (song)|Beth]]".

Criss had collaborated on a demo calledoriginally titled "Beck", a song that was eventually reworked to become the [[ballad]] "[[Beth (song)|Beth]]", a Top 10 hit for Kiss on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 7 in 1976. The song remains the highest-charting song for Kiss in the United States and it earned them a [[People's Choice Awards|People's Choice Award]] for "Young People's Favorite New Song" in 1977, tied with "[[Disco Duck]]". The song was actually 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 Penridge wrote the song together.<ref name="behindthemask">David Leaf, Ken Sharp ''Kiss: Behind the Mask – Official Authorized Biography ''Warner Books, 2005; {{ISBN|978-0446695244}}, pg. 268</ref> A demo exists of the song from 1971.<ref>CD, KISStory, Demos and Rare Songs, Vol 3, songs 1 & 2, 2008</ref>

On the 1979 release ''[[Dynasty (Kiss album)|Dynasty]]'', he played only on his own composition, "Dirty Livin{{'"}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petercriss.net/homepage/sub/drumqa/default.htm|title=Criss Q and A|access-date=January 22, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217221207/http://petercriss.net/homepage/sub/drumqa/default.htm|archive-date=February 17, 2009}}</ref> and did not play at all on ''[[Unmasked (Kiss album)|Unmasked]]'' (1980) but was seen on the album covers and music videos for songs from those albums. [[Anton Fig]], who also played on [[Ace Frehley (album)|Ace Frehley's 1978 solo album]], was hired as session drummer for ''Dynasty'' and ''[[Unmasked (Kiss album)|Unmasked]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.antonfig.com/discograpy/|title=Discography|website=Antonfig.com|date=November 27, 2019|access-date=August 21, 2021}}</ref> but did not tour - Criss performed on the Dynasty tour and [[Eric Carr]] on the tour for Unmasked. At the time, the reasons why Criss was fired from Kiss were never made public, although it was obvious that his relationship with his bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley was not good at the time.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

[[GeneThe Simmons]]video hasfor said"Shandi" Criss was fired; Paul Stanley(a discussedsong Criss's departuredid innot severalplay interviews,on including- the commentaryonly onKiss ''[[Kissologymember Volumefeatured Two:on 1978–1991|Kissologythe 2]]''.studio [[Ace Frehley]] in his 2011 book, ''No Regrets'', and he stated that Crissrecording was fired during a band meeting in which Frehley, Simmons, Stanley and manager Bill Aucoin voted Criss out of the band. A spoken word CD released in 1999 titled ''13 Classic Kiss Stories'', features [[Bill Aucoin]] (Kiss's first manager) where he also discusses Criss being "let go". Criss, however, has maintained that he quit the band. The video for "Shandi" was shot in one day, and Criss was out of the band at that time; Stanley said of the shoot, "We shot a video for the song 'Shandi' after the decision to let Peter go had been confirmed. He came to the video shoot knowing it was the last time he would appear with KISS. At the end of the day, he took his makeup case with him and left. It wasn't tearful, but it was a big moment. Peter was leaving. We had fired him, and this was the last time we were going to see him in the band".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stanley|first1=Paul|title=Face the Music: A Life Exposed|date=2014|publisher=HarperOne|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-211404-4|pages=242–43|edition=First|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062114044/face-the-music}}</ref>

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 played only seven shows before Criss left the band (reportedly to enjoy his daughter Jenilee growing up).<ref>{{cite web|website=Kiss-related-recordings.nl|title=Balls of Fire|url=http://www.kiss-related-recordings.nl/petercriss_ballsoffire.html|access-date=February 8, 2009}}</ref> Another relatively short-lived band was the Criss Penridge Alliance, essentially Peter Criss and Stan Penridge with the 1970s jazz rock fusion band Montage (Mike Hutchens – guitar,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mikehutchens.com/Bio.html |title=Stories |access-date=October 9, 2015 |archive-date=September 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912021953/http://www.mikehutchens.com/Bio.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Allen Woody]] – bass ([[Gov't Mule|Govt Mule]], [[The Allman Brothers Band|Allman Brothers Band]]), John Moss – drums and Tony Crow – keyboards) who rehearsed 39 songs including from the first 3 Peter Criss solo albums, and played around 10 shows in total.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alex-room-service.podomatic.com/entry/2015-10-09T02_58_49-07_00|title=The Criss Penridge Alliance 1984|website=Alex-room-service.podomatic.com}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, Criss assembled a band named "Criss", featuring among others future [[Queensrÿche]] guitarist [[Mike Stone (musician)|Mike Stone]]. This band went through frequent line-up changes, toured extensively and released the ''Criss'' [[extended play|EP]] in December 1993 and the ''[[Cat 1 (album)|Cat #1]]'' album in August 1994.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kiss related recordings-Criss EP|url=http://www.kiss-related-recordings.nl/petercriss_crissep.html|website=Kiss-related-recordings.nl|access-date=October 9, 2012}}</ref>

Criss 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 from Kiss again in March 2004. The band had opted not to renew his contract following the [[Rocksimus Maximus Tour]]. He was once again replaced by Singer, who assumed the "Catman" persona. He said of Kiss performing with replacements for Ace Frehley and himself:{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.app.com/4074/august2008/features/petercriss.html|title=Interview by Mark Voger|website=App.com|access-date=January 16, 2009}}</ref>}}

As of November 2008, Criss has been married three times: Lydia Di Leonardo (1970–79),; former [[Playboy Playmate]] and [[Coppertone]]fashion model [[Debra Jensen]] (1979–94); and Gigi Criss (since May 1998).<ref name="IMDb">{{cite web|title=Peter Criss|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0188028/bio|website=IMDb|access-date=July 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202015914/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0188028/bio|archive-date=February 2, 2016}}</ref> Criss has a daughter, Jenilee, born in 1981.<ref name="IMDb" />

[[Category:Musicians from Williamsburg, Brooklyn]]