Kiss Ken Kelly

Ken W. Kelly (May 19, 1946 – June 2, 2022) was an American fantasy artist. Over his 50-year career, he focused in particular on paintings in the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy subgenres.Show more

Kelly was the nephew of Frank Frazetta's wife Eleanor "Ellie" Frazetta (née Kelly; 1935–2009).

Early in his career he was able to study the paintings of Frank Frazetta in the latter's studio. In the early 1970s he did a couple of cover paintings for Castle of Frankenstein magazine. Throughout the 1970s he was one of the foremost cover artists on Warren Publishing's Creepy and Eerie magazines.

He depicted Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan and the rock and roll bands KISS, Manowar, Sleepy Hollow, Rainbow, and Ace Frehley.

His work often portrays exotic, enchanted locales and primal battlefields. He developed the artwork for Coheed and Cambria's album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow, and a painting of his was used as the cover art for Alabama Thunderpussy's 2007 release, Open Fire. In 2012, one of Kelly's paintings was used for the cover of Electric Magma's 12" vinyl release Canadian Samurai II.

Kelly was a guest at the Kiss by Monster Mini Golf course in Las Vegas, Nevada, doing autograph signings of prints for the classic Kiss albums he drew cover artwork for.

Ken Kelly died on June 2, 2022, at the age of 76.
Notable album artwork
Destroyer (1976) by Kiss
Rising (1976) by Rainbow
Love Gun (1977) by Kiss
Fighting the World (1987) by Manowar
Kings of Metal (1988) by Manowar
The Triumph of Steel (1992) by Manowar
Louder than Hell (1996) by Manowar
Gods of War (2007) by Manowar
Destroyer: Resurrected (2012) by Kiss
The Lord of Steel (2012) by Manowar
Space Invader (2014) by Ace Frehley
Volume (EP) (2019) by The Vindicated
Shadow Rising (2019) by Stormburner

"Black Diamond" is a song by American hard rock band Kiss, written by rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley. "'Black Diamond' was written almost exactly as it is," he said, "except that the riff wasn't there; Gene [Simmons] brought that part in … It's all about arrangement and embellishment. That's what you're supposed to do in a band: come in and add something. But that doesn't mean you wrote the song."

The song is the closing track on the band's eponymous first album, Kiss, released in 1974. It begins with an acoustic opening sung by Stanley before a furious riff enters, accompanied by Peter Criss on lead vocals. It ends with Ace Frehley's solo, then one chord repeated during a gradual slowing of the tape. The live version is usually sped up in tempo, combined with stage pyrotechnics and a rising drum platform.

"Cold Gin" was written by the band's lead guitarist Ace Frehley and was released in 1974 on the band's eponymous debut album. The song is featured on many compilations released by the band. Live versions of the song were often extended for about two minutes due to Frehley's soloing.

Guitar World listed "Cold Gin" as #7 on their list of greatest drinking songs. It is #14 on Liquor.com's list of top 15 drinking songs and it is ranked #32 of the 50 best drinking songs on TimeOut.com.

"Cold Gin" is about a person suffering from poverty, loneliness, and alcoholism. However the song's meaning is widely misinterpreted to be about a struggling couple who uses alcohol to cope with a toxic relationship or about how cold gin affects the male sex drive, but thorough lyrical analysis shows this is not the case. Ace Frehley confirms what the song is about in his 2011 book No Regrets.

Frehley said he wrote the song while he was in the subway. According to Frehley, the riff for the song was inspired by the song "Fire and Water" by English rock group Free. Gene Simmons actually wrote the bridge, according to Frehley, though Simmons turned down a writing credit: "Back then, it was definitely more of a brotherhood. It didn't matter who got credit, the only thing that mattered was if the song was good". The song was recorded in 1973 and was one of two songs from the band's debut album written by Frehley, the other being the album's instrumental, "Love Theme from KISS", which was written by the whole band. Although "Cold Gin" was never released as a single, it has remained a concert staple during the years.

The studio version differs significantly from the demo version. In the demo, after the solo, Paul Stanley shouts "Whoa! Alright! C'mon!", but in the studio version, he shouts "Whoa yeah!". The second guitar solo was also cut and the outro was shortened.

As Frehley was insecure about his singing ability, Simmons sang the song on the original studio version and in most live versions (despite the fact that Simmons is a teetotaler), although during the Alive/Worldwide Tour, Frehley would sing parts of the song. Frehley would provide the lead vocals when touring with his solo band.