Face the Music

March 24, 2014
Born with an ear deformity called microtia—a condition in which cartilage on the outer ear fails to from properly—which left him with an ugly stump on the right side of his head, Stanley, co-founder and lead singer of KISS, faced ridicule and taunts from classmates and found little sympathy or affection from his unhappy family. By the time he was 12, the Beatles blew into his world on the Ed Sullivan Show, and he discovered rock and roll; he eventually picked up a guitar, joined a band, and music eventually became his refuge. Elegantly and thoughtfully, Stanley takes us behind the mask of Starchild, his KISS persona, and shares intimately his own insecurities about his physical appearance and his emotional life. Along the way, he chronicles the meteoric rise of KISS—he and Gene Klein, who changes his last name to Simmons, just as Stanley Eisen becomes Paul Stanley, start playing in a band in high school—in the 1970s, their difficulties, and their eventual fall from fame. Throughout the glory years, Stanley remains lonely and feels like an outsider off stage. In 1998, his starring role in the Phantom of the Opera dramatically prompts Stanley to face himself: “Why had I let my birth defect keep me from sharing myself with people, from embracing people—from embracing the fullness of life?” He starts working with children with facial deformities in an organization called About Face, and here he movingly shares the lessons he’s learned: “It’s not about being perfect, being normal, or seeking approval; it’s about being forgiving of imperfection, being generous to all sorts of people, and giving approval.”

April 15, 2014
KISS' flamboyant "Starchild" unplugs his high-wattage amps and introduces fans to an even more intriguing character: Stanley Harvey Eisen. Few who experienced the power of a KISS concert during the 1970s could have imagined that one of the preening men commanding the exploding stage in makeup and high heels was actually an anxiety-riddled loner from Queens hiding a rare facial deformity called microtia. Growing up, the condition left Stanley half deaf with a "stump of an ear" that prompted sensitive neighborhood kids to jeer him as "the monster." The axe-slinger behind some of KISS' most anthemic songs displays a laudable frankness in discussing those troubled times, made all the more trying thanks to a set of emotionally unavailable parents and a mentally disturbed sibling. The bleakness of the music-obsessed teen's existence eventually drove him to seek out his own psychotherapist. Still, the author possessed an almost uncanny certainty that music would be his life. That unconquerable drive, coupled with a deep and abiding desire to belong to something, brought him into the orbits of three decidedly disparate characters: Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. Stanley describes the halcyon days of KISS' formation as the realization of his dreams--but there were problems from the inception. Despite a dynamic conceived as a sort of fun-house reflection of the Beatles, the KISS brotherhood, as Stanley regards it now, was always built on suspect fortifications. Those weaknesses would come to light at the end of the 1970s, after the band had already conquered the world and intra-band friction took hold. Stanley recounts the worst of it--the 1996 reunion tour that, while successful, fell woefully short of the bombastic comeback the Starchild had envisioned. None of Stanley's band mates escape his withering criticism, but Criss is clearly his favorite target. At peace with the state of KISS today, Stanley reveals that the most precious things in his life now are his sense of enlightened awareness and cooking elaborate meals with the wife and kids. An indispensable part of KISStory.

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April 1, 2014

Before Stanley cofounded the rock band KISS, he was Stanley Harvey Eisen, a boy born partially deaf with a stump for an ear. Kids were unkind, and he had an unhappy childhood and unsatisfying family life. College wasn't for him, but he found his calling in writing and performing music, not letting his birth defect stop him. After working hard and hanging out with the right people, KISS became larger than life for a time, but drugs and egos interfered. Stanley never gave up, though, and managed to keep the band alive as musicians came, went, or lost focus and as the music scene changed. This year marks the 40th anniversary of KISS's first album, and Stanley has seemingly found happiness and stability with the current lineup of members, his children, and his second wife. The author is the last of the founding KISS members to tell his story in a book, and the result, while entertaining and revealing, is bloated with analogies and euphemisms. Apparently, very few people in his life failed to disappoint him in some way, and he incessantly makes his disdain for former bandmate Peter Criss abundantly clear. Despite all the negativity, though, Stanley wishes to inspire readers to improve their lives and be happy. VERDICT Essential for the KISS Army and for fans of rock and roll tell-alls.--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2014
Most people will probably not associate sensitivity with the flamboyant heavy-metal rock band KISS, and yet in his memoir, front man, rhythm guitarist, and cofounder Paul Stanley succeeds in making a connection with the reader, KISS fan or not. Born with microtia, a deformity that left him deaf in his right ear, Stanley felt like a freak. His stage makeup (heavy white face paint with a star around his right eye), therefore, functioned as a mask that hid his doubts and insecurities and turned him into a larger-than-life persona, Starchild, which served, he explains, as a defense mechanism to cover up who I really was. Stanley discusses his childhood growing up lonely and friendless in Manhattan and Queens, and the pivotal night when he saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and realized that music would be the vehicle to lead him out of his misery. He also writes about his fellow band members, the ups-and-downs of stardom, and the decadent rock-star lifestyle, coming across through it all as likable and down-to-earth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)