Peter Criss

Peter Criss as he appeared on his 1978 solo album

George Peter Criscuola (born December 20, 1945) a.k.a. Peter Criss, is an American musician best known as the drummer for the rock band KISS.

Early years

The young George Peter Criscoula (his full real name) was a gang member in his teen years, according to an article in Spin Magazine, and as he tells the story, when his grandmother caught him making weapons for a rumble, she broke a broomstick over his head. Also Peter allegedly stabbed somebody in the leg in a gang war. He is the eldest of the five children of Joseph and Loretta Criscuola in Brooklyn, New York.

Despite his hoodlum mentality, he was also an avid art student and a jazz aficionado. While playing with bandleader Joey Greco, Criscuola ended up studying under his idol, Gene Krupa, at the Metropole Club in New York. This blossomed into an active musical career as he went on to play jazz and rock with a number of bands in New York and New Jersey throughout the 1960s.

One of Criscuola's best friends growing up was Jerry Nolan, who would later go on to drum for the New York Dolls.

KISS

After the demise of his band, Lips, Criss placed an ad in the East Coast edition of Rolling Stone, which read::

Contrary to the story that has been recited by fans and by the band for years, there was never an ad placed that said "Drummer willing to do anything to make it."Gill, Julian. The KISS Album Focus, Volume 1 (3rd Edition). Xlibris Corporation, 2005. ISBN 1413485472 The ad was answered by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, who had recently dissolved their band, Wicked Lester, to form a new band. Ace Frehley was added to the lineup in January 1973, and the new band was christened KISS that month.

KISS released their self-titled debut in February of 1974. Throughout his KISS career, Criss was lead vocalist on several notable songs including "Black Diamond" and their breakthrough hit "Beth". Many of Criss's contributions to KISS were written with the help of Stan Penridge, who was a bandmate of Criss's in Chelsea and Lips.

Criss struggled with alcoholism through many of the years he was in the band. Although he was always credited as drummer, 1977's Love Gun was the last KISS album on which Criss played throughout.On the 1979 release Dynasty, he drummed only on his own composition, "Dirty Livin'" and did not play at all on 1980's Unmasked. David Letterman's house drummer Anton Fig secretly ghosted for Criss on most occasions, but Carmine Appice, Richie Fontana, Allen Schwartzberg and Sean Deanley have also been said to have played drums and percussion anonymously on KISS records.

Solo career

Although Criss officially left KISS in May 1980, his involvement with the band had ceased by December 1979. In March 1980 he began recording his first solo album, Out of Control. Released later in the year, the album was a commercial failure. So too was the followup album, 1982's Let Me Rock You, which contained one song written by Gene Simmons.

For the rest of the '80s and early '90s, 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 briefly reunited with former KISS bandmate Ace Frehley on Frehley's 1989 album Trouble Walkin' (singing and playing percussion on one track). In the early '90s, Criss assembled a band named Criss. This band released the Criss EP in December 1993 and the Cat #1 album in August 1994. The group also supported Frehley's band on the 1995 "Bad Boys Tour." That same year, Criss appeared at official KISS Konventions and at the KISS live performance that was recorded for MTV Unplugged. Criss's band remained in existence until the KISS reunion was announced in April 1996.

The homeless urban legend

In the late 1980s, an urban legend circulated that Criss was a homeless alcoholic, culminating in a 1989 Star Magazine article that appeared to lend credence to the notion. Jeffrey Scott Holland paid tribute to Peter's alleged plight by painting his portrait in an alley with a bottle in his hand, and Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold began a campaign to try to rescue Criss. Barr and Arnold had discovered a homeless man living under a bridge who had claimed to be Criss, but it was later revealed to be a hoax. The hoaxer, Christopher Dickinson, appeared with the real Criss on The Phil Donahue Show in 1991. For years afterward, the belief still persisted that Peter was broke and sleeping on the streets.

The KISS reunion

After the phenomenal public response to Criss' sitting in with the band for a couple of songs at KISS Conventions and then on MTV's "Unplugged" show, KISS reunited in full makeup and original lineup in 1996. In 1997 Criss's label, Tony Nicole Tony (TNT) Records, filed a lawsuit against Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley alleging that the pair induced Criss to breach his contract with TNT [1].

At first, Criss was elated with the reunion, but things turned sour when his drumming was hardly used on the subsequent Psycho Circus album. Much to his chagrin, he was also forced to sing a song written by Paul Stanley ("I Finally Found My Way") rather than contribute his own original material.

As the Reunion tour was followed by the Psycho Circus tour, things began to slide for Peter on the road:
* On April 5, 1997, Criss was a no-show to a KISS performance in Columbus, Georgia, allegedly due to issues with bursitis and tendonitis of the shoulder and lower back. At the last minute, Peter's drum tech, Ed Kanon, was tasked with replacing him for the night, donning the Catman makeup and costume.Gooch, Curt and Jeff Suhs. KISS Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History, Billboard Books, 2002. ISBN 0823083225
* On December 5, 1998, for unknown reasons, Criss did not sing on any songs except for "Beth."Gooch, Curt and Jeff Suhs. KISS Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History, Billboard Books, 2002. ISBN 0823083225
* During the last few months of the Farewell Tour, Criss added a painted teardrop to his face. The teardrop symbolized the ongoing problems with Criss's contract negotiations.Gooch, Curt and Jeff Suhs. KISS Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History, Billboard Books, 2002. ISBN 0823083225
*At the end of the band's October 7, 2000 concert, Criss demolished his drum kit onstage in a final act of frustration, although the audience largely thought it was part of the act.Gooch, Curt and Jeff Suhs. KISS Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History, Billboard Books, 2002. ISBN 0823083225
* Criss quit the band in late 2000, and the attorneys made the announcement official in January 2001. On February 3 Criss released a statement blaming Gene and Paul for his disassociation from the band.
* In 2002 Criss returned to the band once more.
* On August 9, 2003, as the recording backing track for "Beth" began, Peter threw down his microphone and refused to sing. Later it was claimed the microphone was defective, but there were other mikes onstage.
* Increasingly, Criss began complaining of severe arm cramps and other muscular health issues preventing him from playing properly for long periods of time.

Before the 2004 "Rock The Nation" tour, Criss' contract was not extended and former KISS member Eric Singer returned as the band's drummer.

Peter Criss has a short interview on VH-1's Rock Honors special, which aired on May 31, 2006, in which he talks about the role he had in KISS and that band's longevity. He was not, however, asked to play with either KISS or the supergroup paying tribute to them, which featured Rob Zombie, Ace Frehley, Scott Ian, Slash and Tommy Lee.

Trivia

Peter Criss as he appears today

*In his teen years, as the "war counsel" for a Brooklyn street gang, Peter was responsible for making weapons. When his grandmother discovered him making a zip gun, she broke a broomstick over his head (Chronicled in SPIN Magazine's KISS issue, 1998).
*During an early KISS tour, someone threw an M-80 firecracker onstage, and blew Peter off of his drums. He couldn't hear for the rest of the night.
*Peter was somewhat of a prankster while in KISS. Once, as a joke, he left a trail of his clothes from his hotel room bed to the open window (Peter was hiding under the bed).
*In a Family Guy episode, Peter and Lois Griffin go to a KISS concert and when Peter finds she is not a KISS fanatic says, "I should have known you weren't a true KISS fan. You even dressed up as Peter Criss. Nobody wants to be Peter Criss Lois, not even Peter Criss!"
*In early 2002, Criss had a role on the HBO series, Oz. He has also appeared on Family Guy and Millennium.
*In the 2006 album Everyone is Out to Get Us by Far-Less, the end of the song "Semper" is dedicated to "Peter Criss, that guy from KISS."
*He is mentioned in the Weezer song "In The Garage."

Discography

Chelsea

Chelsea (1970)Credited as Peter Cris.

KISS

KISS (February 18, 1974)
Hotter Than Hell (October 22, 1974)
Dressed to Kill (March 19, 1975)
Alive! (September 10, 1975)
Destroyer (March 15, 1976)
Rock and Roll Over (November 11, 1976)
Love Gun (June 30, 1977)
Alive II (November 29, 1977)
Peter Criss (September 18, 1978)
Dynasty (May 23, 1979)Criss performed on only one song, "Dirty Livin'."
Unmasked (May 20, 1980)Although Criss is shown on the cover art, he did not participate in the recording of the album.
KISS Unplugged (March 12, 1996)
Psycho Circus (September 22, 1998)
KISS Symphony: Alive IV (July 22, 2003)

Cat #1 (1994)