This was partly an idea from Neil Bogart, the boss of Casablanca Records who had just signed KISS to his label. Paul Stanley’s first make up design was the that of the Starchild that we all know and love, however late December 1973 he tried out a different character. Some such as Eric Carr’s Fox character are well known to all fans, others such as the Bandit, the Hawk and the Taylor are less well known. The original four KISS characters have become synonymous with the image of the band but this article will look at the other make up characters. These plans were however not followed through and it was only when KISS formed with Gene, Paul, Peter and Ace that they first wore the now legendary make up. At one point Paul was going to be a gun slinging gambler (“I’ll be your gambler baby, lay down the bet!”), Gene was going to be a caveman (“I’m going back to the stone age, back where I belong!”) and ideas were also thrown around for the other band members. Gene and Paul had first discussed the idea of onstage characters in their previous band, Wicked Lester. Along with their pyrotastic live show and platinum selling albums this made them an instantly recognisable household name across America in the late 1970s and across the world since then. This masked their real personalities entirely and built up their mystic. What was different for KISS was that all four members of the band wore the make up, not just the frontman and that they stuck to these four characters over the years, never allowing themselves to be seen or photographed without the make up. Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Roy Wood and Arthur Brown (to name but a few) had already been using similar make up designs in recent years. When KISS first wore make up in 1973 it wasn’t an entirely original idea. KISS as the Demon, the Starchild, the Catman and the Spaceman

They may well live on in future line ups. These characters were created by the original KISS members, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss and live on in today’s KISS line up of Gene, Paul, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have often said in recent years that the four original characters of the Demon, the Starchild, the Catman and the Spaceman are the definitive image of KISS.

Gene simmons kiss makeup