Episode 33: Paul Stanley

An interview with Paul Stanley on how he’s sustained his career for decades, how you can be hard on yourself while being your biggest fan, why you should make others feel worthwhile, how to overcome barriers and his best career advice.

Welcome to the 33rd episode of 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel. As your host, my goal is to curate the best advice from the world’s smartest and most interesting people by asking them just 5 questions.

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This episodes guest:

My guest today is the co-lead vocalist of KISS, Paul Stanley. Born in New York City to parents who were avid listeners of classic music and opera, Stanley took interest in the works of Beethoven growing up. His right ear had a birth defect called microtia so he wasn’t able to hear on that side, and was bullied by other children because of it, but still enjoyed listening to music. At age 13, he received his first guitar and started playing songs by Bob Dylan and other artists. After playing in a few local bands, he joined his friend Gene Simmons’ band Wicked Lester, which eventually fell apart. Then, they formed Kiss, releasing their first album in 1974. Each member of Kiss took the persona of a character on stage and Paul chose “The Starchild”. Over the course of his career, Kiss has become one of the best-selling bands of all time with 100 million records sold with mega hits including “Rock and Roll All Nite”, “Shout It Out Loud” and “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”. In 2014, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Paul is the author of Face the Music and his latest book, Backstage Pass. He and Kiss are currently on their Farewell Tour.

The 5 questions questions I ask in this episode: