Celleen Michele Jones | Biz Journals
Gene Simmons— the Kiss rock star of makeup, tongue-flashing and platform boot fame – is also a shrewd businessman. A self-made entrepreneur. And a complete marketing genius.
Just ask him.
In his recently published book “Me, Inc: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business,” Israeli-born Simmons, recounts in his uniquely matter-of-fact, say-it-like-it-is manner, how he emigrated to America with his Holocaust-survivor single mother determined to make it big.
Simmons, now 65, has built a merchandising and branding empire around Kiss, the band he co-founded more than 40 years ago and which regularly sells out concert arenas and even Kiss Kruises.
Sharing business advice from a guy known as the Demon isn’t the type of fare often produced by the Jacksonville Business Journal – but having a bonafide member of the Kiss Army on our reporting staff meant we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see what Simmons has to say.
Former KISS member Peter Criss will be this year’s inductee into the Cancer Research and Treatment Fund’s Cancer Survivor Hall of Fame.