Introduction
The Starchild. Paul Stanley is more than just the frontman and focal point of the band, he is the heart of the band, its' leader, and the true musician of the band. For most of the 1980’s Paul provided the sole impetus for the band’s direction while Gene Simmons was off on his Hollywood tangent, more importantly, he kept the band moving and evolving in an era of musical growth and image searching. The natural musician, Paul had musical influences in his life from the earliest days, so it is not suprising that his life would take such a direction later on.

Reaching For The Stars
Paul's musical background defines that the "Star" he later used in KISS was the appropriate character for him to take. Always something of a musician Paul was a purist educated at the Manhattan High School of Music and Art where serious budding musicians were sent to study and develop their skills. Paul was born Stanley Harvey, January 20, 1952 in Manhattan, New York, son of William and Eve Eisen. With an older sister, Paul's family moved to Queens in the early 1960's where his father would work as a fruniture sales man. After taking up guitar at age 13, Paul was soon involved in bands both as a guitarist and singer and though Paul was mostly self-taught he did have some lessons in music. Unlike the jazz for Peter and Beatles for Gene, Paul's main influence was Eddie Cochran, though because of his parents he had heard plenty of opera growing up. Of his early bands Paul remembers that Incubus was and early version of Uncle Joe with Matt Rael and Neil Teeman. This was Paul's first real band, a trio with two guitarists and drummer - there was no bassist since the members of the band didn't know anyone who played bass. According to Paul the band was basically little more than a garage band that would turn up the amps to 10 and go wherever the noise would take them. Later, Paul joined Matt's older brother Jon Rael's band Post War Baby Boom which was a more serious band that had started developing their own original material. Yet, his early bands were more about kids in the basement just having fun though there were limited gigs. However, Uncle Joe did record one song, "Stop, Look, And Listen" in the studio, though it was a quick song made up during rehearsals on which Paul sang. In addition to the Uncle Joe recording Postwar Baby Boom also did some limited recording, demoing a song called "Never Living, Never Loving" which Paul had written. Unfortunately, Paul allegedly doesn't know what ever happened to the recording apart from the fact that it was recorded at CBS and Columbia. The song has in recent years surfaced and come back into Paul's hands, so there is the prospect for KISS fans finally being able to hear it at some point in the future. Uncle Joe was more about having fun and the band did record some of their sessions, though like other young bands there was a certain Spinal Tap-ish attitude of turn it up to 11 and just play. However, the format of the band without bassist kept music simple and limited. Of course it has been rumored that Uncle Joe got their name from a rich uncle, but that is not true. The name came from the Western nickname for Josef Stalin. Later in Tree, Paul played with Marty Cohen, Stan Singer and Steve Coronel, but the band were still basically a cover band. Following the numerous run ins with Gene Simmons it is not surprising that the two started working together in Rainbow, which also included Steven Coronel. The band generated interest from record labels, playing anything and everything while the band developed a sound of their own, but Rainbow didn't last long and soon underwent metamorphosis into Wicked Lester so that the band could move away from performing covers, something both Gene and Paul hated. The addition of Tony Zarella (on Drums) and the professional Brooke Ostrander (Keyboards), gave Lester the full experimental sound, and on the strength of the interest generated by Rainbow they signed with Epic Records for a one album deal in early 1971.