Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel to Hungarian Jewish immigrants) is best known as the blood spitting, fire breathing, tongue-wagging egomaniacal bass player for the rock band KISS. In 1958, he emigrated to New York City as a child with his mother - a Hungarian immigrant and the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust - after his father, Feri Witz, abandoned his family. After emigrating to America, he took the name Gene Klein; he felt that 'Gene' was more American than 'Chaim', and his mother's maiden name was Klein. In the late 1960s, he changed his name again, to Gene Simmons, as he simply felt that "Gene Klein" didn't have enough of a ring to it.

Quotes

• "I'm sick of musicians saying 'I don't care what you want to hear, I'm gonna play whatever I want 'cause I'm an artist.' You're an artist? Paint my house, bitch!"
• "The book's about sex. My design, and I suspect all God's designs, start with some engine. A car's engine either has horsepower or not. The design of this particular beast, man, is to expel sperm. Every time we get aroused we expel sperm. If not, the family of man would suffer from extinction."
• "I urge all women to get married as often as they can and men, never. I have never been married. Never intend to. Marriage is an institution which to get into you have to be committed. I've been with Shannon Tweed for 20 years. We have two great kids. But marriage, never. Look, only women who watch 'Oprah' and 'Dr. Phil' believe men walk down the street and do not look at a woman with double D's. I mean, a man can hold his breath but not forever. A man has two heads but only blood enough for one. Also, please note, Oprah's not married."
• At one point, Terry Gross asked Simmons about his "studded codpiece." "It holds my manhood, otherwise it would be too much for you to take," Simmons said. "You'd have to put the book down and confront life." http://www.murmurs.com/talk/archive/index.php/t-20114.html