CNN reports KISS will join Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis, Smokey Robinson, Cee Lo Green and JLS – with other major artists to be announced soon - to round out the roster of acts for "Michael Forever: The Tribute Concert" in Cardiff, Wales, according to promoter Global Live Events.
Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the musical family, appeared on CNN Monday to discuss the show, which will also include performances by her children and grandchildren.
KISS are scheduled to play the show in contrast to Gene Simmons’ assertion to Classic Rock magazine last year that he was convinced of Jackson’s status as a pedophile despite the fact that the singer was acquitted of child-molestation charges in 2005.
"I knew Michael," Simmons told the magazine. "I ran into him a few times. I met him the first time before he became the superstar, when he was sort of teenagey, when he was still a Jackson Five. This was in the Cher days, when Cher and I lived together. But as time moved on, and no matter what my fond memories and fond images of Michael were, with one allegation of pedophilia after another and another and another…Oh dear."
Simmons added that he knew some of the musicians Jackson toured with, and cited one who quit after seeing "boys coming out of the hotel rooms...Well, you know, where there's smoke there's fire. There's no question in my mind he molested those kids. Not a doubt."
"There's never been a single female of any age that I've ever known about who has ever made a claim that she has had a physical relationship with Michael, ever,” said Simmons. “The only sexual references ever made about Michael Jackson that were made by anyone, anywhere around the world, have always been made by kids, and specifically males usually 10 to 14 years of age; never females, that age or older, and never grown men."
It’ll be interesting to see if Simmons is asked to back up his 2010 comments in the coming days, or if he tries to distance himself from them; either way, it appears Gene’s belief systems are all talk and no action when there’s money to be made.
KISS
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Udo Music Festival - Fuji Speedway - Shizuoka, Japan - July 23, 2006
See also:
KISS: Kissology Volume 4 details surface
KISS: Paul Stanley welcomes fourth child to family
KISS: Ace Frehley has No Regrets
New KISS book to focus on early years
KISS: Ace Frehley autobiography due in November
