Gene Simmons House of Horrors
| Gene Simmons | |
|---|---|
Simmons in Los Angeles, California, on October 15, 2012
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Chaim Witz |
| Also known as | The Demon Dr. Love God of Thunder Reginald Van Helsing |
| Born |
August 25, 1949 Tirat Carmel, Haifa, Israel |
| Genres | Heavy metal, hard rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, entrepreneur, teacher, reality star, typist and assistant editor |
| Instruments | Vocals, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Associated acts | Kiss, Wicked Lester, Wendy O. Williams |
| Website | genesimmons |
| Notable instruments | |
Chaim Witz (Hebrew: חיים ויץ, [xaˈim ˈvit͡s], born August 25, 1949), known professionally as Gene Simmons, is an Israeli-American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, actor and television personality. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bass guitarist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the rock band he co-founded with rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley in the early 1970s.
Chaim Witz was born on August 25, 1949 at Rambam Hospital, in Haifa, Israel. At age 8, he immigrated to New York City with his mother. Simmons was raised in a Jewish household, where he practiced playing his guitar hours without end. His mother, Flóra "Florence" Klein (formerly Kovács), was born in Jánd, Hungary. The name Klein, which means "small" in German, has the Hungarian equivalent Kis (a common Hungarian surname); this, however, did not give the band its name. Simmons' mother survived internment in Nazi concentration camps. She and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust.
Simmons' father, Feri Witz, also Hungarian-born, remained in Israel, where he had one other son and three daughters, and worked as a carpenter. Simmons says the family was "dirt poor," scraping by on bread and milk. In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Eugene Klein (later Gene Klein), adopting his mother's maiden name.
Before his musical career began, Simmons worked a variety of jobs in the city. An "excellent typist," he served as an assistant to an editor of the fashion magazine Vogue, and also spent several months as a sixth grade instructor on the Upper West Side.
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