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Gene Simmons
Summary
Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; חיים ויץ χaˈim ˈvits; born August 25, 1949) is an American musician. Also known by his stage persona the Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss, which he co-founded with Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in the early 1970s. Simmons was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of Kiss.
Simmons was born as Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949, at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel, to Jewish immigrants from Hungary. His mother, Florence Klein (1925–2018; née Flóra Kovács), was born in Jánd and 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, Ferenc "Feri" Yehiel Witz (1925–2002), was a carpenter. Simmons spent his early childhood in Tirat Carmel and was raised in a practicing Jewish household. He has said that his family was "dirt poor", scraping by on rationed bread and milk. At the age of seven, he began to pick wild fruit and sell it on roadsides together with a friend.
Aged eight, he and his mother immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. His father remained in Israel, where he has another son and three daughters. In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Gene Klein, adopting his mother's maiden name. When he was nine, he briefly attended a Jewish religious school, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, before transferring to a public school. He later attended Richmond College and Sullivan County Community College, both in New York, and chose a stage name in tribute to the rockabilly singer Jumpin' Gene Simmons. He practiced playing his guitar for hours on end. Before his musical career began, Klein worked a variety of jobs in the city. A proficient typist, he served as an assistant to an editor of Vogue, and spent several months as a sixth grade instructor on the Upper West Side.
The Beatles had a significant influence on Simmons. "There is no way I'd be doing what I do now if it wasn't for the Beatles.
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