American musician Paul Stanley: biography, personal life, Kiss band, solo career

Paul Stanley is a world-famous rock guitarist, vocalist and musician of the band Kiss. The favorite of millions conquered the hearts of listeners with their talent for creating real rock masterpieces. About how the musician has achieved such tremendous success, we will tell in our article.

Childhood and Youth

Paul Stanley (Stanley Harvey Aizen) was born on January 20, 1952 in the city of New York. Grow a boy in Upper Manhattan. It should be noted that Paul's Jewish family was the only one in the neighborhood. Mostly there lived immigrants from Hungary, Ireland and Germany.

Sex is not the only child in the family. His sister Julia is older than her brother for 2 years. In 1960, when Eisen Jr. turned 8 years old, the family decided to move to Queens (New York). It was in this place that Paul entered the Higher School of Music and Art, which he graduated with success in 1970. In the same year, Stanley takes the entrance examinations to a college called Bronx Community College.

As the musician recalls, at that time his parents' friends were preparing them to enter the law and medical colleges, and Stanley was filled with dreams about the future of the rock star. To earn his first guitar, Paul worked as a taxi driver in a local company. The guy often drove people to Madison Square Garden and secretly dreamed that someday he would perform on this great stage together with other world rock stars.

The beginning of a musical career

Stanley founded the first musical group at the age of 14. At that time the boy did not yet have outstanding guitar playing skills, but Paul knew about the amazing vocals of the whole district. Inability to cope with musical instruments did not prevent him from singing in a band called Incubus, which included two other boys of the same age - Matt Ral and Neil Timan. The year of the trio existed in the same composition, but the leader of the group decided to change the name of the musical collective. Now the guys were called Uncle Joe.

The young and promising band lacked only a bass player. But since in their area such a "virtuoso" was difficult to find, the guys were interrupted as best they could.

The band existed until 1970 and even left behind a demo song called Stop, Look And Listen, which was recorded on a regular household tape recorder.

After the disbandment of the band, Paul is invited to participate in the Tree group, where famous rock musicians of the USA - Stephen Coronel, Marti Cohen and Stan Singer are playing along with him.

Fateful meeting, which determined the future of the musician

The meeting with Gene Simmons became a fateful musician. As Paul Stanley later admits, Jean did not immediately like him. He seemed too arrogant and spoiled for him. But later Paul's opinion of the musician will change quickly. "You just have to get through his thick protective shell, which he put on, and then his real - good nature will open," Paul said in an interview about Gene.

Later, two friends make a decision to create a musical group, which later will go down in the history of rock. The dominant role in the team was Paul, because it occurred to him the name of the group, he worked out ideas for the show, and also looked for stories to create songs.

Stanley got the most difficult job - to wear heels, make various stunts on stage, perform music and songs at the same time. It should be said that Kiss listeners also denoted the paramount importance of Paul in the band.

By the way, when asked by journalists why Stanley's makeup involves putting a star around the eye, the musician replied: "I always dreamed of becoming a star, that's why I use it as the main element of make-up."

Work outside the collective

Paul Stanley (Kiss) rarely wrote music outside the collective. In 1987, his first solo record was released. The album is written in the style of Kiss. According to Paul, this record revealed his nature and showed the subtle receptivity of the musician to reality.

Unlike his friend Simmons, Stanley continued to look for new ideas for songs and support life in the band, while Jin actively acted in film and was looking for new talents on the side.

Paul knew that if he turned his back on the band and completely devoted himself to a solo career, Kiss's existence would end there. And to him - the founder of this collective - it was difficult enough to put up with this idea. That's why Paul of all tried not to go aside.

First tours

In 1989, Stanley went on his first tour, where it was supposed to perform only compositions Kiss. He collected the music group in a fairly short time (only 3 weeks). But this did not stop to make an indelible impression on the listeners. The band consisted of guitarist Bob Kulik and drummer Eric Singer, who later began to play in Kiss.

It is worth noting that, despite the fact that his group was waiting for a dizzying success, Paul Stanley still continued to play in the team and create songs for him. Songs that the musician wrote for his solo album, later included in the collection Kiss. Thus Paul showed true love for his creation, while Simmons completely retired.

A few years later, Stanley is preparing to release his second album called Live to Win. It is worth saying that the title of the first song from the album is mentioned in the episode of the animated series South Park.

In 2006 Paul went on tour to support the released Live to Win album. The team was then from keyboardist Paul Mirkovich, guitarist Jim McGorman, guitar leader Rafael Moreira, drummer Nate Morton and bass player Sasha Krivtsov.

Paul Stanley (height 183 cm) continued to tour with the team until 2007. Along the way, the team "jumped" and to Australia (Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Kullangatt).

It should be noted that parts of the concerts were filmed to create a documentary by Paul Stanley called Live to Dream. And the band's performance in 2008 was recorded on tape and released later in the DVD.

Parallel Projects by Paul Stanley

In addition to Kiss (group), Stanley is involved in other projects. Among them was the recording in 1989 of the soundtrack to the tape called Shocker (directed by Ways Craven). The composition was written by Stanley's colleagues - Jean Beauvoir and Desmond Child. It was performed by her band, calling themselves The Dudes Of Wrath.

In 1999, Paul was invited to perform a role in the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" in Toronto. He got the execution of the Ghost.

In 2005 it became known that Stanley showed his artistic abilities. He sold his paintings at exhibitions. As it turned out, to create on canvas he was prompted by the desire to recover from the divorce.

It is also noteworthy that in 2008 Sarah Brightman invites Paul to perform a joint composition titled I Will Be with You, which was included in the album of the singer Symphony.

It is also curious that on February 19, 2009 Stanley wrote two songs for the Russian band from St. Petersburg Pushking. Both entered the record of the well-known rock band in Russia. The record was released on February 28, 2011 and is called The World As We Love It. The album also includes songs recorded by the band's leader Konstantin Shustarev with other world rock artists.

In 2014, Paul Stanley's autobiography comes out. Face The Music: A Life Exposed. It should be noted that the book in the future ranked second in the list of world bestsellers The New York Times.

Awards and achievements of the musician

In 2006, Paul is included in the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, the musician was awarded the title of "showman of the year". The award is awarded to Classic Rock.

One can not ignore the fact that in 2009 Stanley was awarded the Telly Awards for the solo DVD-record One Live Kiss.

Personal life of Paul Stanley

In 1992, Paul marries the beautiful Pamela Bowen, who gives the musician the son of Evan. This couple breaks up in 1994. Pamela gives the divorce, tired of the constant tours of her husband and the abundant attention of numerous female fans.

In 2005, Stanley married Erin Sutton. The wedding was held in Pasadena, California.

A year later, the wife made Paul happy and gave birth to his son Colin, and four years later a second child appeared in the family - a girl named Sarah. In 2001, Stanley again became a pope. Erin gave him the daughter of Emily.

Interesting Facts

Few people know that Paul Stanley in his youth was afraid of the public and the scene. Before each concert the musician strongly worried, but after a few minutes calmed down, because he felt the love and support of listeners.

It is also interesting that Paul Stanley ("Kiss") does not hear in one ear. As the musician admitted , this does not prevent him from writing songs and studying music. As you know, partial deafness has been with him since birth.

Operation

In 2004, when Kiss (band) was on a tour, the fans heard the unpleasant news - Stanley needed to operate urgently. The cause was the problems with the edge, which a well-known musician had had for a long time.

Doctors said that Paul needed at least a joint replacement for artificial. The first surgical intervention occurred in 2004 (in October), after which serious complications ensued. It took another operation, which was quite successful.

Paul's fans no longer hoped to see him on stage, but after 2 years Stanley again saw the next concert. The musician performed in the same form and with the same fantastic mobility.

Paul Stanley, whose quotes are known throughout the world, still remains the idol of millions of viewers. Unfortunately, while he is not in a hurry to please us with his new compositions. We hope that in the near future we will hear a few more rock hits in his performance.