Gene Simmons Insists he’s Tougher than Beyoncé and Bruno Mars

'Good Morning Britain' TV show, London, UK - 09 Jul 2019
Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
Loudmouth Kiss rocker Gene Simmons is giving lip to today’s biggest stars, insisting hitmakers like Beyoncé and Bruno Mars don’t have the stamina to match the energetic shows his headbanging band has staged for nearly 50 years!
The Rock and Roll All Nite singer, 72, pooh-poohed today’s performers, doubting their ability to carry a tune — while carrying an outrageously heavy costume!
Gene says “Uptown Funk” vocalist Mars, 36, and Single Ladies songbird Beyoncé, 40, are “great.” But the tongue-wagging blowhard blusters, “Put those guys in my outfit, with seven- to eight-inch platform heels, dragon boots that each weigh as much as a bowling ball. The entire outfit, studs, leather and armor is about 40 pounds.”
“The guitar and the studs is 12 pounds by itself. Then, you got to spit fire, fly through the air and do that for two hours. They would pass out within a half hour.”
Gene insists he and his face-painted band buddies — co-founding member Paul Stanley, 70, and replacement players Eric Singer, 63, and Tommy Thayer, 61 — are the “hardest working band out there and we take pride in it.” Simmons chalks up his lasting endurance to clean living and daily treks with his wife, former Playboy pinup Shannon Tweed, 65.
“No drugs, no booze, no smoking. None of that stupid rock ’n’ roll stuff. I hike almost every single day,” he boasts. But Gene doubled down on the foursome’s current End of the Road tour being their last because he believes in getting “out of the ring when you’re a champion!”