Mike McCready is mourning the loss of Kiss‘s Ace Frehley after news of his death on Thursday, Oct. 16. In a social media post shared by both Pearl Jam and McCready, the musician reflected on how Frehley forever changed his life and inspired him to pick up a guitar.
McCready shared that he learned of Frehley’s death through Rick Friel of Shadow. “Rick was also the first guy on the bus in 1977 with a KISS lunchbox to tell me about Ace…just changed my life,” recalled McCready.”
“I got a guitar in 1978 to join Rick‘s band Warrior, which turned into Shadow. We covered ‘C’mon and Love Me,’” he continued. “All my friends have spent untold hours talking about KISS and buying KISS stuff. Ace was a hero of mine and also I would consider a friend. I studied his solos endlessly over the years.”
The Pearl Jam guitarist encouraged fans to listen to the band’s “Alive” to hear Frehley’s influence, since he used the solo from Kiss’ “She” as a “template.”
“Ace jammed on ‘Black Diamond’ with Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden…a dream come true for me. I would not have picked up a guitar without Ace and KISS’s influence,” McCready wrote. “RIP it out Ace, you changed my life. Thank you.
Frehley died in Morristown, New Jersey, at age 74. Frehley’s rep, Lori Lousararian, attributed his death to a “recent fall at his home,” though a specific cause of death was not immediately available.
“We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley,” Kiss bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley said in a joint statement. “He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy.”
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