1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: So if you think about the wild rock stars of 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: the twentieth century, one guy has to be near the 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,320 Speaker 1: top of your list. He's the Demon of Kiss, Gene Simmons, 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: the most famous tongue in rock and roll. But his 5 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: backstory is a gut wrenching yet really inspiring story representing 6 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: a whole different life. I'm Patty Steele, a poor but 7 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: determined single mom helps her kid reach for the stars. 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. We've 9 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: all heard stories of folks who came from a hard 10 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: look background only to make it big, but some stories 11 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: are just larger than life. Hiam Wits was born in 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine in Haifa, Israel. By the time she 13 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: had Hiam Flora was only twenty four, but she had 14 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: survived Hell on Earth. When she was eighteen, she and 15 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: her family in Hungary had been packed into cattle cars 16 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: and transported to a Uschwitz Burkanau, the Nazi extermination camps 17 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: and occupied Poland, where the regime had an industrial murder 18 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: complex targeting humans. Between May and July of nineteen forty four, 19 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: almost four hundred and fifty thousand Hungarian Jews were taken 20 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: to Auschwitz Most were murdered within hours of arrival, including 21 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: Flora's parents, all but one of her siblings, and her aunts, uncles, 22 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: and cousins. Flora barely survived the starvation and the torture. 23 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: Her brother Larry also survived, but everybody else was gone. 24 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: After she was rescued from the camps, Flora married. She 25 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: had her little boy a few years later, but pretty 26 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: soon she was unhappy with the marriage, so when Higham 27 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: was eight, his mom, searching for a better life, moved 28 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: them to New York City. They settled in Queen's but Higham, 29 00:01:55,760 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: now called Eugene Klein, faced a new challenge. He barely English. 30 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: Later on, he said he learned the language mostly from TV, 31 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: especially his favorite western. The Lone Ranger America fascinated him. 32 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: It was larger than life. Cowboys, superheroes, rock stars. Everything 33 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: felt bigger than the world he had left behind, and 34 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: it was bigger than the world he lived in. They 35 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: had almost no money, and his mother's scrounched just to 36 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: keep them fed. Slowly, though, he began to believe that 37 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: maybe he could become something bigger too. Like a lot 38 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: of future musicians, Jean had one defining moment. It was 39 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four when he saw the Beatles perform on 40 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: the Ed Sullivan Show. He was thrilled with the screaming fans, 41 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: the wild excitement, and the power those four artists had 42 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: over the crowd. In that moment, the sixteen year old 43 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: boy realized something important. You didn't have to be an 44 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: athlete or an actor to get the world's attention. You 45 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: could do it with music. From that moment on, Gene 46 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: wanted to be in a band, and his mother was 47 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: his inspiration. He says she taught him two things. The first, 48 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: nothing is impossible, and the second you survive by working 49 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:20,959 Speaker 1: harder than everybody else. He practiced obsessively. Eventually he became 50 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: a bass player and a songwriter. But there was one 51 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: more obsession he had growing up, comic books. Now the 52 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: thing is superheroes fascinated him, characters with hidden identities and 53 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: dramatic costumes, and that idea would actually later shape the 54 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: look of the band he helped create. Now it's the 55 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: early nineteen seventies and Gene is now using the last 56 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: name Simmons as a tribute to some artists he admired 57 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: rockabilly singer Jumpin Jeene Simmons as well as the mid 58 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: century actress Geene Simmons. In nineteen seventy three, Jean teamed 59 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: up with Paul Stanley and they formed Within the band. 60 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: He was the bass guitarist, one of the main songwriters, 61 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: and the creator of the band's most famous character, the Demon. 62 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: On stage, he transformed into that character with black and 63 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: white face paint, towering in giant boots, and doing theatrical 64 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: stunts like breathing fire and spitting fake blood. While Paul 65 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: Stanley became the charismatic frontman, Simmons provided the darker theatrical 66 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: energy for the band. He also sang lead vocals on 67 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: major Kiss songs like rock and Roll, All Night, Calling, 68 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,480 Speaker 1: Doctor Love, and God of Thunder. His deep voice and 69 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: demonic stage persona helped define the band's identity, but Jean's 70 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: rolling Kiss went way beyond playing bass. He helped turn 71 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: the band into one of the most recognizable brands in music. 72 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: Those childhood lessons about survival and money showed up in 73 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: his approach to the music industry. Kiss did and just 74 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: sell albums. They sold everything, comic books, action figures, pinball machines, 75 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: lunch boxes, even Kiss branded coffins. How crazy is that 76 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: hardly any rock bands in those days ever turned themselves 77 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: into a merchandising empire the way Kiss did, and Jane 78 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: was a major force behind that strategy. Despite the wild 79 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: onstage persona, Gene always said his drive came from something simple. 80 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: He never wanted his mother to struggle again as the 81 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: son of a Holocaust survivor. He wanted absolute financial security 82 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: for both of them, and he did it from a 83 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 1: poor immigrant kid in Queens to a founding member, bassist, 84 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: and creative force in one of the biggest rock bands 85 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: in the entire world. Now, when people see Gene Simmons 86 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: in full Kiss costume, they see the Demon, But the 87 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: story behind the makeup is something very different. It's the 88 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,480 Speaker 1: story of a little boy who arrived in America not 89 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: speaking the language, a mother who survived unimaginable pain and hardship, 90 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: and a kid who watched the Beatles on TV and 91 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: decided he wanted to change his life. That kid didn't 92 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: just join a band. Gene Simmons helped create one of 93 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: the most theatrical and successful rock acts in music history 94 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: as Kisses Bassis, co founder, songwriter, and the unforgettable Demon. 95 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: As for Flora, she died in December of twenty eighteen, 96 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,119 Speaker 1: surrounded by her family. She was ninety three years old. 97 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: The most important thing about her though, She was just 98 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: eighteen years old in a cattle car headed to Auschwitz, 99 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,480 Speaker 1: and she survived. She rebuilt her life in New York 100 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,799 Speaker 1: City with a young son, no English, and no money. 101 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: She worked hard because she knew what it was like 102 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: to have nothing, no food, no safety. She knew that 103 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: work was the one thing that was essential. Gene Simmons 104 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: says she's the only explanation for his success. Her legacy 105 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: is that of a woman who survived the unsurvivable and 106 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: taught her son that nothing is impossible. I hope you 107 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: like the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review. 108 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: I'd love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free 109 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also feel free to 110 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: DM me if you have a story you'd like me 111 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram 112 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a 113 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and 114 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer 115 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: Jay Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 116 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 117 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and 118 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 119 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't 120 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.