Ace Frehley

Despite being grounded in hard rock, Ace Frehley’s guitar virtuosity has always felt otherworldly, as if he came from some distant planet. Undoubtedly born here on Earth, though—as Paul Frehley in 1951 New York City—he first garnered his reputation for six-string gymnastics as the lead axe-slinger in Kiss, where he adopted the apt persona of The Spaceman. In Kiss, his scorching solo on 1977’s “Rocket Ride” paved the way for thousands of head-banging metalheads-in-waiting. The following year, he walked the tightrope (in platform boots) between glam and grime on his hit cover of the glitter-rock anthem “New York Groove” from his entry in Kiss’ famed solo-album series. This sound foreshadowed what his own project, Frehley’s Comet, would offer following his 1982 split from the band. Between reunions with Kiss in the late ‘90s and getting sober, he has never waned in intensity when it comes to his solo work: With songs like the sneering, street-savvy “Bronx Boy,” 2018’s Spaceman proved Ace is only rocking harder as the years fly by.