Happy Birthday to Gene Simmons of KISS who was born on August 25th, 1949.

Gene was born Chaim Weitz on this day in Haifa, Israel. His mother, Flora Klein was born in Jand, Hungary. The German name Klein translates to Hungarian as Kiss. Florence and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust.

To celebrate "The Demon's" birthday, here is our Top 5 favorite KISS songs.

  • 5

    Rock And Roll All Night

    1975

    This song is the one that put KISS in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Originally released in 1975, Simmons claimed he and Paul Stanley intentionally sat down to write a rock & roll anthem. This version was taken from the MTV unplugged session and would be the beginning of another new chapter for the band. To quote Darth Vader from Star Wars, "The circle is now complete." With the return of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley on UNplugged, talks began to get the original four members of the band back together and hit the road with what would become the "KISS and Make Up Tour."

  • 4

    Calling Dr. Love

    1977

  • 3

    Beth

    1976

    In the 37 years of making Rock & Roll, KISS has only broke the Top 10 twice. In 1990 they had a top 8 hit with "Forever," but it was 1976 when they saw their highest climbing single sung by drummer Peter Criss.

  • 2

    Lick It Up

    1983

    Well, deciding that they needed to 'shake things up,' KISS decided to appear on MTV for the first time WITHOUT makeup. Thus began a new chapter for Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and newest members, Eric Carr (drums) and Vinnie Vincent (guitar). This was the title track and first offering from 1983.

  • 1

    Hard Luck Woman

    1976

    This was released on the album, 'Rock & Roll All Over" and was one of the two songs that charted featuring vocals by Drummer Peter Criss. During the MTV Unplugged concert, Paul Stanley handled the vocals, but the biggest 'suprise' version of this song is from long-time KISS fan, Garth Brooks. Garth recorded a version for the KISS tribute album, 'Kiss My A$.'

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