Gene Simmons Net Worth
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What is Gene Simmons’ net worth and salary?
Gene Simmons is an American rock and roll legend with a net worth of US$400 million. He is known for being the co-founder of the Kiss band, which was very successful from the late 1970s to the 1990s, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide as of this writing.
Even with those impressive records and tour data, most of Gene’s wealth today comes from Kiss licensing deals. Signs, icons, and other intellectual property related to kissing have been authorized for more than 5,000 different products, including pinball machines, lunch boxes, condoms, board games, lighters, comic books, and even coffins. Since the 1970s, the brand has incurred more than $1 billion in licensing fees.
Today Gene and his band partner Paul Stanley jointly own Kiss. The others are paid performers. Gene claims that Kiss receives more than $100 million in revenue from tours, merchandise, and licensing deals each year.
Famous sayings about money and wealth
In a BBC interview in February 2019, Gene explained his views on money very succinctly:
“Life is a business, and I treat life the way a shark treats life-they must keep going or they will drown. I will never stop looking for more money. I will never have enough food… I live to make more money. People who say that money is the root of all evil are idiots. Lack of money is the root of all evil.“
early life
Gene Simmons was born on August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel, his original name was Chaim Witz. His father was Florence Klein and the carpenter Ferenc Yehiel Witz. His mother and her brother, Gene’s uncle Larry Klein, are the only members of their family who have survived a Nazi concentration camp held during the Holocaust. Gene left Israel with his mother when he was 8 years old and moved to Jackson Heights in Queens, New York City. Once in the United States, Chaim Witz adopted the more American name Eugene Klein. After watching The Beatles on Ed Sullivan’s show, he also developed a keen interest in music. Because of his new interest in music, his mother brought him a second-hand guitar. Gene is very good at guitar, but decided to switch to bass because he thought it would be easier to join the band. In high school, Eugene founded his first band Lynx, which was later renamed Missing Links. After cooperating with Missing Links, Simmons joined Long Island Voice.
Gene studied briefly at Sullivan County Community College, then transferred to Richmond College, and eventually received a degree in education. After receiving his degree, Simmons taught elementary school in Harlem, Spain, and even worked as a personal assistant to the editors of “Vogue” and “Glamour” magazines. It was during this time that he changed his name to Gene Simmons to commemorate the famous rock singer “Jumpin’ Gene Simmons”. Simmons joined a new band, Bullfrog Bheer, and they recorded a demo of Leeta. (Later included in the Kiss set.)
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Music career
In the name of Gene Simmons, he met Stanley Eisen (AKA Paul Stanley). The two decided to cooperate and formed the band “Wicked Lester”. Their hard work quickly paid off because they signed an agreement with Epic Records after seven shows. They recorded an album, but it was put aside without Epic’s support. It was never released. After this failure, Simmons and Paul set out to create what they called “the band that ruled the world.” After seeing his ad in Rolling Stone magazine, they invited drummer Peter Kris to join them. Soon, guitarist Paul Frehley (aka Ace Frehley) joined them. Now we are ready for “Kiss” to go to the world. After five months of rehearsal, they gave their first performance. Before the show, they decided to try makeup. Feeling that makeup makes them look too feminine, they choose to use makeup as an art form. They came up with makeup to express their ideas. “Kissing” quickly gathered a large number of fans. They released their first album of the same name in February 1974. Simmons is the driving force behind their large number of commodities. But even with a fan base, their first three albums were almost unsuccessful. A well-known thing is that Kiss gave a wonderful live performance. Decided to record Kiss at the concert. Once the live CD was released, the band’s reputation increased greatly because their live albums reached four times platinum.
After five years of great success, the band members began to feel each other’s imprisonment. It was during this time that they embarked on a different path to record their personal albums. When the band finally returned, they met with strong opposition. Many fans are bored with Kiss’s makeup and Gene’s performance of vomiting blood on stage. In 1983, Kiss decided not to perform with makeup. This actually allowed their popularity to grow further. It was in the 1980s that Gene felt that he wanted to get in touch with more of the world. In 1984, he began to accept Hollywood acting work and founded his own record company (Simmons Records). Kiss will release their album Revenge in 1992. This album will mark the darker and rougher tone that most of their albums have. The album was so popular that it brought Kiss back to the spotlight. Since 1992, Kiss has been playing intermittently and even appeared on MTV’s Unplugged in 1995. The band held a fan meeting in 1995. In 1996-1997, Kiss started the very successful Alive Worldwide Reunion tour. The band released another album “Psycho Circus” in 1998. Since then, the original lineup disbanded again, Tommy Thayer replaced lead guitarist Ace Frehley, and Eric Singer replaced drummer Peter Criss.
In 1999, Simmons co-produced the movie “Detroit Rock City”, which is the ultimate love letter to Kiss. Simmons conquered the music world with Kiss, but in addition, he recently entered the reality show industry with his shows Rock School and Gene Simmons family Jewels.
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personal life
Simmons had a cohabitation relationship with Cher and Diana Ross before. After 28 years of dating, he married his long-term partner and former playboy playmate Shannon Tweed in 2011. They have two children (a son, Nick, born in 1989, and a daughter, Sophie, born in 1992), who live in Beverly Hills, California.
Simmons is an avid fan of science fiction and comic books. He has published several science fiction fan magazines and contributed to other fan magazines.
Simmons was a supporter of George W. Bush’s foreign policy and publicly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Simmons said he regretted voting for Barack Obama and criticized his 2009 healthcare reforms. In 2012, he supported Mitt Romney’s campaign for president.
As far as philanthropy is concerned, Simmons advocates the International Children’s Fund. He went to Zambia to visit the children he sponsored. He has more than 1,400 children. He and his family received the MEND Humanitarian Award for their charitable efforts and work for the charity Mending Kids International. Simmons helped found The Children Matter, an initiative designed to give children around the world access to health care.
real estate
Since 1986, Gene’s main residence has been a 16,500-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills. The mansion occupies nearly 2 acres and is the most valuable land in the world. Gene bought the property in 1984 for $1,327,500, which is the same as today’s $3.1 million after adjusting for inflation. A few years later, he started a five-year construction project, and reportedly cost 12 million US dollars to build a 10-bedroom, 16,500 square-foot house that is currently often seen in the family’s reality show. In October 2020, Gene and Shannon listed the mansion for $22 million. In September 2021, they accepted $16 million. This is a video tour of the first listing:
Gene and Shannon hope to sell the property so that they can move full-time to a 24-acre estate near Whistler, British Columbia. They spent $4 million to build Shannon’s dream home on this property.
In March 2021, Gene and Shannon spent US$5.8 million to purchase a hilltop residence in Malibu. A few months later, they bought a smaller mansion in Beverly Hills for $10.5 million.
In May 2021, they spent US$8.2 million to purchase a 11,000-square-foot mansion in Henderson, Nevada. Soon after the purchase, he paid about $2 million for the undeveloped land next door, which eventually turned it into an orchard with more than 130 trees. They didn’t spend much time in the house in the end, so in October 2021, Gene and Shannon put the house on the market for a little less than $15 million.
