GENE SIMMONS On Being Successful In Music Business: 'It's Not About Music, It's About Charisma'

September 4, 2005

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons recently spoke to The New York Post about "Gene Simmons' Rock School", VH1's new show about a group of prissy, young British boarding-school students trained in classical music who spend several weeks learning how to be mini rock gods under the tutelage of "Mr. Simmons."

"You don't have to know how to read or write music at all to be successful in the music business," Simmons told The New York Post. "And as far as rap is concerned, you don't need to have any qualifications whatsoever, you could just be a drug dealer off the street and simply start talking — it's not about music, it's about charisma."

Regarding the fact that he appointed the smallest, geekiest kid in the class to be the band's frontman because of the kid's charismatic performance in an audition, Simmons said, "You can have a huge show and be a fantastic instrumentalist, but if you're not charismatic, nobody will care. By the way, you don't even need to be the lead singer — I was as interested in Pete Townshend as I was in Roger Daltrey in THE WHO because he made a spectacle out of himself."

Simmons says "Rock School" is just one of 14 shows he has in production at various networks and studios, including an animated show called "My Dad the Rock Star" on Nickelodeon and "Mr. Romance" on Oxygen.

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