Gene Simmons: 'Sex Money Kiss'

The legendary rock star Gene Simmons may be best known for his role in KISS, a band that has broken every possible record from album sales to merchandising to touring.

But these days he's also busy working on several other projects, including his new book, "Sex Money Kiss."

In his second book, Simmons talks about his philosophy of life and how others can live a happy life of sex and money as well.

Simmons has never been married and does not believe in marriage. Yet, he's been with the same woman for 20 years and has two children with her. He says his relationship is built on the truth and he despises lies.

Simmons was born in Israel in 1949, and immigrated with his divorced mother to Brooklyn in 1958. It has been over 30 years since he helped launch KISS with Paul Stanley. Since then, the band has broken every attendance record set by Elvis Presley and the Beatles and is America's No.1 gold record award winning group.

Simmons is also the founder and publisher of his own magazine, Tongue, and president of his own record label, Simmons Records/Sanctuary.

Read an excerpt from "Sex Money Kiss":

Who am I?

Who am I, and why am I writing this book?

Let's face it, just because I stick out my tongue a lot and spit fire doesn't mean I have any qualifications to advise anyone on relationship, money or career issues.

I don't.

I've never been married. Yet I've been living with a gorgeous woman I'm crazy about for twenty years with never a cross word between us, in a relationship based on honesty and full disclosure. I never went to business school – I have a pedestrian understanding of commodities and futures, at best. Yet "expert financial people" work for me! I never had a grand master plan for my career; I graduated from college with a B.A. in education, fully prepared to work as a teacher. And yet for three decades I've been in KISS: a band that has broken every possible record – from album sales to merchandising and licensing to touring.

What I do have and have always had, thanks in full to my mother, is an abiding faith in me. Call it a "life philosophy": a philosophy about relationships, money (mine!) and happiness (mine again).

It works for me. It can work for you!

* * *

This book is written in simple terms. You should find it easy to digest, clear in its intent and brutally honest. It's going to distill and demystify some of the institutions that Western society is built on. It is not a self-help book, a "relationship" book or a book of philosophy, theology, or morality. It's not even a business book, per se. My philosophy isn't taught in business schools. This book doesn't use business language, which is designed for business school graduates. This is plain speak to understand plain notions. Its intent is to make sure on the day that you die, and certainly while you're living, you can have a lot more money in your pocket and maybe even be happier.

For that to happen, you're going to have to re-draw some lines in the sand which have been drawn for you by other people, society, religion and convention… many of which are ancient and therefore archaic, in my opinion. And what gives me the right to re-draw these lines (some of which are fundamental to the American way of life)? Who am I to espouse any of these notions?

I am living proof that the American dream is not only alive but alive and well, thank you. I've amassed cash, more of it than I ever thought possible. I graduated from college and taught sixth grade for a very short time. I worked as the assistant to the director of a government research and demonstration project, I worked at Vogue magazine as an assistant to the editor, and I worked as a Kelly Girl. I've also been a rock star for thirty years. But teacher or rock star, whatever I was doing to make a living, I was constantly living by the notions that I thought would increase my bottom line, while completely rejecting those notions (whether they were religious or social) that robbed me of what I thought belonged to me: MY CASH.

What will you say right before they put you six feet under? Will you say:
"I wish I would have."
"I wish I could have."
"I wish I should have…"
Or will you say, "I did it all. Thank you and good night."

Ready? Let's get started.

The foregoing is excerpted from Sex Money Kiss by Gene Simmons. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission