Departure From Kiss
In 1978, Criss was injured in a serious car crash.
On the 1979 release Dynasty, he only played on his own composition, "Dirty Livin'," and did not play at all on 1980's Unmasked. Anton Fig, who also played on Ace Frehley's solo album (and is now David Letterman's house drummer), was hired to play on both records.
Gene Simmons has made it clear that Criss was fired; Paul Stanley too has discussed Criss' departure in several interviews, including the commentary on Kissology 2. Ace Frehley in his 2011 book, "No Regrets," also stated that Criss was fired during a band meeting in which Frehley was outvoted by Gene and Paul. A spoken word CD released in 1999 titled "13 Classic Kiss Stories", features Bill Aucoin (Kiss' first manager) where he also discusses Criss being 'let go'. Criss, however, has maintained that he quit the band. The video for "Shandi" was shot in one day, and Peter was out of the band at that time; said Stanley, "After we finished shooting, Peter packed up his things, and went home."
Criss officially left Kiss on May 18, 1980. As a result, Kiss postponed the European tour until the end of August, thus giving the band enough time to find a replacement drummer, who they found in Brooklyn-born Eric Carr.
Read more about this topic: Peter Criss
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