Vincent
John Cusano (born August 6, 1952, in Bridgeport,
Connecticut),
better known as Vinnie Vincent, is a guitarist and songwriter most
famous for his brief membership in the band Kiss. Vincent played a few guitar solos on the album Creatures of
the Night
and subsequently toured with Kiss in "Ankh Warrior" makeup created by Paul Stanley, Kiss's lead singer and rhythm guitarist. After
that, he remained with Kiss for one additional album, Lick It Up recorded in 1983, before being fired from the
band for alleged unethical behavior. He later performed as a solo artist and
with his own band, Vinnie
Vincent Invasion.
Cusano was brought in as an
uncredited studio replacement for Ace Frehley, who later went on to form Frehley's Comet, during recording for Creatures of
the Night. He
contributed to a few songs on the album including, "I Love It Loud" and "I Still Love You". Vincent was subsequently chosen to
replace Frehley permanently.
An artist's
rendering of the makeup design worn by Vincent during part of his time with
Kiss
Cusano originally wanted to
use his birth name in the band but this was vetoed by Gene Simmons on the grounds that it sounded "too
ethnic" being that Vinnie is Italian. Cusano then suggested the name
"Mick Fury" but this was also disallowed. Simmons later suggested the
name change to Vinnie Vincent.
Vincent started actively pushing to join Kiss as a full member. Despite
misgivings Simmons and Paul Stanley harbored about his personality, Vincent was
taken into the band and Stanley
designed an "Ankh Warrior" persona and make-up for Vincent.
From 1982-1983, the new
line-up of Kiss became Simmons (the Demon), Stanley (the Starchild), Eric Carr (the Fox), and Vincent (the Ankh Warrior). This
incarnation of Kiss was to be the last incarnation of the original make-up era.
At the end of the Creatures Of The
Night tour, the band removed their make-up.
Aside from songwriting
credits under his birth name, Vincent's involvement with the recording of Creatures Of The Night was not
widely-publicized for several years. Simmons and Stanley were not sure they
wanted to let fans know that Ace Frehley had left the band. For this reason, Frehley
still appeared on the cover of the original album artwork as well as in the
music video for "I Love It Loud." When the album was re-mixed and
re-released in 1985 with a non-makeup cover and a slightly different song
order, to reflect the band's roster change and abandonment of their make-up and
costuming, Vincent was again absent from the album cover as then-current lead
guitarist, Bruce Kulick, appeared there instead. The liner
notes accompanying the re-mixed LP, however, have credited both Ace Frehley and
Vinnie Vincent with lead guitar performances on the Creatures of
the Night
album.
Lick It Up is the only instance of Vincent appearing on a
Kiss album by actual image. It is also the only Kiss album where Vincent
receives unambiguous and exclusive lead guitar credit. Except for "Fits
Like A Glove" and "Dance All Over Your Face", written solely by
Simmons, Vincent was co-writer in 8 of the 10 songs on the album for "Lick
It Up". It is rumored that Vincent recorded every lead for the album's
songs in their entirety and that Simmons went on to choose the parts of those
leads that he liked best to fit the songs shortening Vincent's creative
abilities. Apparently, Simmons wanted more of a melodic sound and feel which
Kiss fans had always heard and were accustomed to in Frehley's guitar solos. Additionally,
Vincent would get "cut off" during his guitar solos live because both
Stanley and Simmons felt that Vincent's leads went on too long.
Vincent's personality did
not mesh well with either Stanley or Simmons and he was dismissed from Kiss at
the end of the Creatures tour. He
was re-hired before recording started for Lick It Up because Simmons and Stanley could not find a
new lead guitarist on such short notice. Personality issues arose once again
and Vincent was fired following the Lick
It Up tour and was replaced by Mark St. John (birth name Mark Norton). Vincent's work on Creatures of the Night continued to
not be officially recognized until the album was remastered in 1997.
Vincent was later utilized
by Kiss as a songwriter on the 1992 album Revenge, contributing to the songs "Unholy", "Heart Of Chrome" and "I Just Wanna". Before
long however, Vincent, Simmons and Stanley fell out with each other for a third
time permanently severing their musical and personal ties.
I named Vincent Cusano,
"Vinnie Vincent." That's the only gift he's allowed. It's interesting
that Vinnie hasn't changed his name back to Vinnie Cusano. Vinnie, for the
record, was fired for unethical behavior, not because of lack of talent. The
guy is very talented. He was unethical. He was fired.
Prior to joining Kiss,
Vincent was in several bands, the most popular being Treasure
(1978-1979). He toured with Dan Hartman, whose 1978 release Instant Replay produced an international single by the same name
as well as a promotional video in which Vinnie performs. Vinnie also provided
background vocals on the album's closing track, "Time and Space". Vincent
was also a staff songwriter for the television series Happy Days and Joanie Loves
Chachi.
Vincent co-wrote, with Adam
Mitchell, the song "Tears" under his real name. It was later recorded
by former Babys lead singer John Waite (whom Ace Frehley wanted as lead singer for
his post-Kiss band Frehley's Comet some years later) for his No Brakes album which was released on
EMI America records. Waite also released the song as a single and it reached
#37. Peter Criss also recorded a version of the song
for his album, Let Me Rock You, which was released outside of the USA in 1983.
The VVI line-up included
original lead singer Robert Fleischman (briefly the lead singer of Journey), who would be replaced by Mark Slaughter prior to the band's first tour, bass guitarist
Dana Strum (both of whom would later form the band Slaughter) as well as drummer Bobby Rock, who would join the band Nelson after VVI's breakup.
Vincent briefly became
involved with fighting censorship against rock music. In January 1987, he and
Dana Strum visited the city of Goshen, Indiana in support of Marianne Hatfield, editor of a
local rock magazine called Rock Rag Plus. Hatfield alleged that she was being
harassed by the minister (Paul McGechie) and members of an Assemblies of God congregation, who believed Hatfield's magazine
was "satanic". This event was covered in the local news media and in Rock
Scene magazine.
He also helped The Bangles with songwriting and played guitar on the 1988
album, Everything for one song, "Make a Play For Her Now".
As a solo artist, he has
released an EP (Euphoria, 1998), and an album entitled Speedball
Jamm.
Vinnie Vincent sued Kiss twice after being
fired for the second time in 1984. The first lawsuit (for $6 million) was filed
in around 1986 over royalties that Vincent believed he was owed for performance
and songwriting. That suit was found in favor of Kiss as Vincent was determined
to be a salaried employee of the band.
In 1987, Vincent was quoted
in "Rock Scene" magazine as saying that Kiss would not allow him to
use their name either to promote his solo career or to even mention the band in
interviews. Throughout this interview, Vincent persistently and bitterly
referred to Kiss as either "The White Face Band" or simply "The
Blank Band".
In late-1988, Vincent's $4
million contract with Chrysalis Records (for 8 albums) was taken away from him because
he overextended his credit line with the label. The contract was transferred to
Invasion members Dana Strum and Mark Slaughter, who by this time had formed the
band Slaughter. Later on their debut album,
"Stick It To Ya", there was a song that referenced this called
"Burning Bridges".
Vincent's second suit
against Kiss in 1992 (again for $6 million) was for later songwriting royalties
and other claims. That suit was dismissed because the amount Vincent requested
was excessive, and once again, he was found to have been a salaried employee of
the band.
In July 1997, Vincent filed
another legal action against Kiss, the individual band members, Polygram, and Horipro, alleging claims of breach of fiduciary duty,
fraud and deceit, constructive fraud, negligent misrepresentation, conversion,
imposition of constructive trust, breach of contract, infringement on the right
of publicity, defamation, and open book account for royalties. This
followed the release of the publication KISStory.
