| Frehley's Comet | |
| Alias: | Ace Frehley |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Years Active: | 1984–1988 (Reunions: 2017, 2018) |
| Origin: | New York City, New York, |
| Associated Acts: | Kiss |
| Past Members: | Ace Frehley John Regan Anton Fig Richie Scarlet Arthur Stead Tod Howarth Billy Ward Jamie Oldaker |
Frehley's Comet was an American rock band formed and led by ex-Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley.[1] The group released two studio albums and one live EP before Frehley left the band to release his 1989 solo album, Trouble Walkin'.
The band name was a pun of a pun; Bill Haley & His Comets was a 1950s Rock-n-Roll band that derived its name as a pun of the typical mispronunciation of Halley's Comet (properly pronounced as "Hal-lee", rhymes with "valley", but commonly mispronounced as "Hay-lee"), a comet which orbits the Sun near Earth about every 75 years. It also helped people pronounce Frehley's name properly to connect it to the common mispronunciation of Halley as "Hay-lee", as in "Fray-lee" vs. the common mispronunciation as "Free-lee".
Before forming a band for his post-KISS career, Frehley had previously done a solo album in 1978 which was the most successful of the Kiss solo albums, and laid the groundwork for his solo career. Frehley left Kiss in 1982, but retained a one-quarter share in Kiss and could not release any solo projects until 1985 without losing that share. During this time Ace put together a band for his solo work, the original line-up consisted of Richie Scarlet on guitar, John Regan on bass, and Anton Fig on drums. This band, together with keyboardists Arthur Stead and later Frehley's friend from the Bronx, Rob Sabino, played live and demoed 20 songs in various sessions with producers Eddie Kramer, Tony Bongiovi, Chris Kimsey and Vini Poncia.[2]
However, before they made their initial record, Scarlet (and Sabino) was replaced by Tod Howarth who played guitar and keyboards.[1] Frehley's Comet was supposed to simply be the title of Frehley's next solo album, but Frehley decided to use that as the name of the band rather than release the record as a solo artist.[1] Fig did not tour for the album and was replaced by Billy Ward as touring drummer.[3] For the second album, Second Sighting, Fig was replaced on drums by veteran Eric Clapton Band member Jamie Oldaker who also did the tour.[1] Two studio albums and one live album were released under the "Frehley's Comet" moniker (The live album, Live+1 featured four songs performed live in concert and one original studio song). Howarth and Oldaker left shortly after the last show under the Frehley's Comet name, opening for Iron Maiden in August 1988.
In 1989, for Trouble Walkin', his third studio release, Frehley dropped the Frehley's Comet name and put out a pure "Ace Frehley" solo album.[1] Tod Howarth was replaced by a returning Richie Scarlet, and Jamie Oldaker by ex-Riot drummer Sandy Slavin (although Anton Fig and ex-Kiss Drummer Peter Criss did perform some of the percussion work on the album).[1] The album featured numerous guest vocalists including Criss and Sebastian Bach.[1] The tour ended and the band dissolved after John Regan resigned with immediate effect after a show in Las Vegas on April 11, 1990.[4] Frehley did not perform live in any form for two years after that, until July 1992.[5]
Frehley put his solo career on hold to rejoin Kiss in 1996. He has since resumed his solo career with Richie Scarlet back in his touring band. After touring Australia together with Gene Simmons and his solo band in 2018, Frehley fired his entire solo band including Scarlet with whom he had played on and off since 1984 and replaced them with Simmons's backing band.[6]
The band played various one-off reunion shows in 2017 and 2018 with Frehley, Tod Howarth, John Regan, and Anton Fig together.[7]
| 1984 | 1984–1985 | 1985-1986 | 1986 | ||||
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| 1986–1987, 2017, 2018 | 1987–1988 | 1988 | |||||
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| Date of Release | Title | Billboard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7, 1987 | Frehley's Comet | 43 | |
| May 24, 1988 | Second Sighting | 81 |