In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Gene Klein, adopting his mother's maiden name. His father remained in Israel, where he has another son and three daughters. Īged eight, he and his mother immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. At the age of seven, he began to pick wild fruit and sell it on roadsides together with a friend. He has said that his family was "dirt poor", scraping by on rationed bread and milk. Simmons spent his early childhood in Tirat Carmel and was raised in a practicing Jewish household. Simmons' father, Ferenc "Feri" Yehiel Witz (1925–2002), was a carpenter. She and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. His mother, Florence Klein (1925–2018) (née Flóra Kovács), was born in Jánd and survived internment in Nazi concentration camps. Simmons was born as Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949, at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel, to Jewish immigrants from Hungary. Simmons was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of Kiss. Also known by his stage persona the Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in the early 1970s. Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz Hebrew: חיים ויץ born August 25, 1949) is an American musician.
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