To celebrate the life of Sean Delaney, KissFAQ reached out to some of his friends and colleagues and asked them to contribute brief written tributes in his memory. Delaney passed away April 13, 2003. He was 58 years old.:
“Sean Delaney was a firestorm of talent and passion. He was a tremendous influence on me both professionally and with life in general, and I am grateful to have worked with him, and to have as my friend.
“I learned so much from him, knowledge that I have carried with me throughout my musical career, and beyond. Sean was amazing, one of the most gifted, prolific songwriters anyone has ever known.” — Richie Fontana (drummer, Skatt Brothers, Paul Stanley’s 1978 solo album)
“Sean Delaney was a fountainhead of ideas and creativity. Kiss and Sean were virtually inseparable in the band’s earliest days. His flair for showmanship and flamboyance was seen in Kiss’s live performances, musically and visually. Sean’s daring and indefatigable energy were essential in launching the Kiss juggernaut and defining the band’s persona to their fans.” — C.K. Lendt (former KISS business manager)
“With April 13th approaching, the 10th anniversary of the passing of my good
friend, Sean Delaney — I was asked to write a brief tribute. It is a
difficult task to write anything about Sean in a short space. Let me start
by saying that on April 13th, 2003 my wife woke me the very surprising news
that she was pregnant! It was also my brother’s 50th birthday. I went back
to sleep and about 2 hours later I received the sad call from Bill Aucoin
informing me of Sean’s passing. My wife and I were set to name the baby Sean
if it was a boy. Turned out to be a girl who we named Kayla.
“Sean was a charismatic, high energy person. He spent approximately six
months with my band, Starz beginning in September, 1975 right up until the
time we went on a six month tour with Aerosmith in June, 1976. At his
insistence the band got together every day of the week to write songs and
then rehearse what we wrote in a loft in Chinatown, owned by our late
bassist, Peter Sweval. I was living in the NYC suburb of Hackensack at the
time, about a 40 minute ride from the loft. One winter day we got hit by a
major snow storm. I called Peter at the loft and said I wouldn’t be able to
make it in. The rest of the guys all took public transportation and lived in
the city with the exception of drummer, Joe Dube who lived on the other side
of the river in Hoboken so they were all going to be there. An hour or so
later I got a call from Sean saying, “What do you mean, you’re not coming
in?” I told him to forget about it. I couldn’t possibly drive in those
weather conditions. He told me that he had a jeep that drove fine in the
snow and would come out and get me and then bring me home later. Sure
enough, that’s exactly what he did. He was as dedicated to the band as
anyone could be & always kept up his intensity. He was an inspiration to all
of us and at each session would critique our songs. You had to develop thick
skin because he didn’t pull any punches. He would say, ‘Hey, that sucked!”
and we would just have to make it better.
“For those who never had the pleasure of knowing Sean I have to say it would
be difficult to describe him. However, when I saw the movie ‘School Of Rock’
with Jack Black I was amazed at how similar Black’s character was to Sean
Delaney. If you haven’t seen that movie, check it out.”
R.I.P. buddy,
Richie Ranno (Starz)
“Sean was meticulously artistic, sometimes unrelentless. But otherwise he was a great influence. And he had a vision and the guys trusted his vision. And it was great to have somebody who had that much focus all the time.” — Neil Jason
“Sean was [at the office] all the time. Almost every day. He was very energetic, always brimming with ideas. I liked Sean immensely. I liked him a lot.
“Sean said, ‘I took [KISS] and I gave them their stage moves.’ And supposedly they hated it. ‘I don’t want to do that.’ They couldn’t see that it looked cool to do it. They felt it was stupid and corny and what have you. And Sean said, “No, no. It’s gonna look cool.” And sure enough it did look cool. He was very creative.
“I did supervise his album [“Highway”]. He wanted me to go and look at the art. He hired the artist, somebody I never heard of, some Greek fella. I had to go across town in a cab, he had him in some apartment. And I go up there and it was hot as hell, middle of the summer. The Greek guy felt like he was being held captive by Sean, like he was chained to the radiator to finish the painting. And the guy looked at me, pleading, ‘Dennis, help me. They won’t let me go. They want me to finish this painting. It’s so hot in here, I can’t work like this. This is torture.’ (laughs)” — Dennis Woloch (longtime KISS art director)
KissFAQ also authored a feature celebrating Sean Delaney’s contributions to KISS: