734 - THE CATMAN (Peter Criss)

 

 

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KISS, PETER CRISS, TIMELESS FAIRYTALE, GEORGIA THUNDERBOLTS, LILIAC, ROCK CRIMINALS, SERIOUS BLACK, FOXX, CRISS PENRAGE ALLIANCE, BONSAI KITTEN, D.A.D, PHIL MOG, RICHIE SCARLET, DEAD DAISIES, FOREIGNER, DEF LEPPARD & TOM MORRELLO

"TOP 11 COUNTDOWN WITH "

"GOD"

KISS, PETER CRISS, TIMELESS FAIRYTALE, GEORGIA THUNDERBOLTS, LILIAC, ROCK CRIMINALS, SERIOUS BLACK, FOXX, CRISS PENRAGE ALLIANCE, BONSAI KITTEN, D.A.D, PHIL MOG, RICHIE SCARLET, DEAD DAISIES, FOREIGNER, DEF LEPPARD & TOM MORRELLO

"TOP 11 COUNTDOWN WITH "

"GOD"

ROCKSTORY

"(KISS - PETER CRISS)"

"“ George Peter John Criscuola was born December 20, 1945 in Brooklyn, New York, better known by his stage name Peter Criss, and is best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and an occasional vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. Criss established the Catman character for his Kiss persona. Peter was involved with several bands through the mid- to late 1960s, including Chelsea who later changed their name to Lips, releasing a self-titled album in 1970. After the demise of his band Lips, Criss placed an advertisement in Rolling Stone Magazine, answered by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. Ace Frehley was added to the lineup in December 1972, and the band was named Kiss. Criss had collaborated while in Chelsea on a demo originally titled "Beck", a song that was eventually reworked to become the ballad "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 Award for "Young People's Favorite New Song" in 1977, On the 1979 release Dynasty, he played only on his own composition, "Dirty Livin'", and did not play at all on Unmasked (1980) although credited on those albums. Anton Fig, who also played on Ace Frehley's 1978 solo album, was hired as session drummer for Dynasty and Unmasked but did not tour. Criss officially left Kiss on May 18, 1980 and was replaced with Brooklyn-born Eric Carr. In March 1980, Criss began recording his second solo album, Out of Control. . The follow-up album, 1982's Let Me Rock You, which contained one song written by Gene Simmons, was a similar failure. 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, Another relatively short-lived band was the Criss Penridge Alliance. In the early 1990s, Peter assembled a band named "Criss", featuring among others future Queensrÿche guitarist Mike Stone. This band released the Criss EP in December 1993 and the Cat #1 album in August 1994. In 1995, Criss appeared at the official Kiss Konvention in Los Angeles that led to the Kiss live performance that was recorded for MTV Unplugged. In April 1996, Kiss announced a reunion tour with all four original members. The 1996–97 Alive/Worldwide Tour was an enormous success, and the reunited Kiss released a studio album, 1998's Psycho Circus. Criss played drums on only one track on the album ("Into the Void") and a co-vocal taking turns in the verses with the rest of the band for the song "You Wanted the Best". 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 before departing from Kiss again in March 2004. He was once again replaced by Singer, who assumed the "Catman" persona. He said of Kiss performing with replacements for Ace Frehley and himself: You can take the mask off the Lone Ranger and put it on someone else, but it ain't the Lone Ranger. Since 2004, Criss has kept his public appearances to a minimum. He now resides in Wall Township, New Jersey. He released a solo album, titled One for All, in July 2007. In 2014, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Kiss Criss performed his last solo show on June 17, 2017, in New York City at the Cutting Room. 2020 Peter Criss has come out of retirement to play drums on a new song by his former bandmate Richie Scarlet, "The Catman & the Emperor.""