Gene Simmons Net Worth – Rocking Millionaire

How fat is rock master, Gene Simmons net worth? Gene is a living rock &roll legend whose net worth stands at 300 million USD.

Gene is a producer, entrepreneur, television personality and actor. He, together with his rock band, has sold over 100 million rock albums worldwide.

Childhood Life

Gene was born in Haifa, Israel on August 25th, 1949. His birth name was Chaim Witz which he later changed to Gene Simmons. He moved with his mother, Miss Florence Klein from Israel to America, when he was just eight years old. On arrival they settled in Queens, NY. Once in America he opted for a more Americanized name which is still his current name, Eugene Klein.

Gene’s interest in music was became much alive upon watching live performance of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan show. His mother bought him a second hand guitar after noticing her boy had fallen in love with rock music. Though very proficient with the guitar he opted to switch to bass as he rightfully felt it was a much easier way through which he could get into a rock band.

Education and Career

It was until Gene joined high school that he truly started his journey towards attaining his legendary status. He formed his first band by the name Lynx which later named its name to The-Long-Island-Sounds. After high school, Gene joined Sullivan-County Community College for a brief spell. He changed colleges and moved to Richmond College from where he graduated with bachelor degree in education.

Armed with a degree, Gene taught in a grade school in Harlem before working as a PA to editors of the Vogue and Glamour Magazines. It is at this point that the rock star decided to change his name Gene Simmons in respect of famed rockabilly performer, Jumpin’ Gene Simmons. Known by his newly found name, Gene Simmons, he linked up with Stanley Eisen also known as Paul Stanley with whom he formed a band by the name, Wicked Lester.

After just seven shows, the band was assigned on by Epic records. However, under Epic records they didn’t enjoy much success as they put out one album that never got the support of the label. This failure served as the awakening call as they sounded out Peter Criss who joined them as a drummer and later guitarist Paul Frehley jumped on board to form the formidable rock band, Kiss.

Kiss wasn’t exactly an instant hit – they recorded three unsuccessful albums. One fact that was known to all though was that the band was great at putting together live shows. Building on this knowledge, Kiss decided to use their strength by recoding a live show which was set for retail which enjoyed much commercial success.

The album quickly made their fame rise immensely as it hit quadruple platinum. However, the brotherly bond they had developed couldn’t keep them together as the band broke up after five successive years. In the 80s Gene decided to spread his wings by accepting Hollywood roles in 84. He also opened his record label, Simmons Records. Gene served as a co-producer of Detroit Rock City. Gene also entered in the reality television series with his shows, Gene Simmons Family-Jewels and Rock School.

Gene has mostly amassed his wealth through music particularly when Kiss was ruling the terrain of rock music. As of today, Gene is not married but lives with his longtime partner, Shannon Tweed together with their two children. He is living lavishly in Beverly Hills. Gene’s net worth is a true reflection of the value of his skills when working on records.