When Ace Frehley died on Oct. 16 , he'd exceeded the expectations of many, especially some of his former Kiss bandmates.

But in a sense, the guitarist had the last laugh (and what an incredible laugh he had, personally). Since 2009, he'd released six solo albums, two of them in his ongoing Origins series and four that were largely original material. 2014's Space Invader , in fact, became the only solo album by a member of Kiss to land inside the Top 10 on the Billboard charts. Not a bad run for someone who had supposedly been left in the wreckage by addiction and personal struggles.

We were fortunate to speak with Frehley a lot over the years. He shared plenty of tales on a variety of subjects, including his own personal Spinal Tap story , the chance encounter that found

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