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“I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day…!” Only later known as Gene Simmons after being born as Chaim Witz in Israel in 1949, Simmons emigrated to New York City with his mother when he was eight years old. Taking his mother’s maiden name and going by Eugene Klein, Simmons had an uneventful childhood and worked a variety of odd jobs—as an assistant at Vogue and a sixth-grade teacher—before he finally decided to pursue his passion for music after seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. Knowing he could find fame as well, Simmons set out for stardom.

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First forming the band Lynx, Simmons went through a series of bands and odd jobs before he met Paul Stanley in the early 1970s. Together, the duo set out to create the “ultimate rock band” and recruited Peter Criss to play the drums and Ace Frehely to play the lead guitar. Finally satisfied with their new sound, KISS was born as the group released their debut album in 1974 and found themselves in front of sold-out crowds as “The Hottest Band in the World.”

Controversial among more conservative rockers, KISS continued to wow audiences as they established themselves as the elitists of heavy metal with their loud songs, face paint and extravagant costumes. However, not even their high-energy performances could prevent their popularity from waning by the 1980s as fans wondered about the men behind the masks. In 1983, Simmons and the rest of the band gave their audiences exactly what they wanted when they took off their trademark makeup and saw their popularity skyrocket well into the 1990s.

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In the years since then, the band has continued to tour with Simmons spending quite a bit of time in the spotlight on his own as an actor known for his appearances on reality shows like Rock School and Gene Simmons Family Jewels. He’s also known for his relationship with former Playboy Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed, whom he dated for 28 years before finally tying the knot in 2011. Of course, as true Hollywood romance goes, Simmons and Tweed had long ago committed themselves to one another by going under the knife together.

Refusing to alter his look during the height of his music career and with no real need thanks to his stage costumes, everything changed for Simmons after 1983 when he and the band removed their face paint. By 2007, The Demon decided it was finally time to go under the knife but refused to go alone. At the time, couples’ cosmetic surgery was a huge trend in Hollywood and Tweed was more than ready to join her longtime beau.

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“I’d thought about [plastic surgery] before,” Simmons said. “I was aware I had jowls.” With Tweed at his side, Simmons consulted Dr. Frank Ryan of Beverly Hills who suggested a facelift to improve Simmons’ look. Over $40,000 later, the God of Thunder had a new face but couldn’t stand to think about how the procedure was done. In fact, he couldn’t even watch the surgery when it aired on Gene Simmons Family Jewel saying, “I saw Dr. Ryan reach under my skin and massage the muscles of my face. It was like my face was peeled off and slung over my shoulder.”

After the surgery, Simmons looked as though he’d been beaten to nearly an inch of his life with his eyes swollen shut. His daughter, Sophie, said, “My parents have looked the same my whole life. I was afraid they wouldn’t look like my parents anymore. [Dad] looked like he had been in a bad car accident.” The surgery was so extreme that it took Simmons nearly a week to recover before he was cleared to return home. The results were astonishing.

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While many argued that Simmons didn’t need a facelift, the tabloids went wild over his new look making harsh comments like, “His hair moves, but his face is frozen.” Fortunately, after five decades in the spotlight, Dr. Love had thick skin and opted for brutal honesty. “I often have to put on makeup before going on stage,” Simmons said. “So, my face was pretty much destroyed and I had to have cosmetic surgery to change it. I needed it.”

Since then, Simmons also had a blepharoplasty to raise his eyelids but this procedure was less noticeable thanks to his signature sunglasses in front of the camera to promote his “cool guy” image. Other than that, the surgeries haven’t transformed the 67-year-old’s career too much as he’s still known for appearances on reality shows like American Idol and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in addition to series like Angie Tribeca and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Then again, he’s currently touring with KISS and is only one of two original members, which is certainly a feat in itself!