KISS Guitarist Ace Frehley's Solo Album From 1978 Features This Hit Single

Ace Frehley's catalog of songs has some stratosphere-level hits, and the song that he is perhaps most well-known for is sort of an underdog story. Not only was "New York Groove" a cover of a song that had only been released a few years prior, but he released it on a self-titled solo album — while KISS was still a powerhouse on the music scene. Strange? Absolutely, but it's also pretty appropriate.

In a 1994 interview with journalist Marc Allan, Frehley was asked about his favorite songs from KISS — and "New York Groove" made his list. That's pretty wild, especially considering he had also gone on record to say that when it had come time for him to put together a solo album and the song was pitched to him, he'd said no.

"I was lucky enough to get Eddie Kramer to produce my record, ..." he told Lyndsanity back in 2018. "And his assistant was the one that came up with the idea to do 'New York Groove.' ... That was my biggest hit, and I was against doing it. Eddie just talked me into it. Go figure." It's a good thing, too, because Frehley's version of the song has gone on to be wildly popular, to the point of being a cultural touchstone that's associated with the Big Apple the same way songs like Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" are. It's so evocative of New York, surely it was written by a native New Yorker, right? Not quite.

Everything about "New York Groove" is unlikely, including the fact it was written by British musician Russ Ballard, the previous frontman of the band Argent. Ballard parted ways with the group in 1974 and was producing for Roger Daltrey when he found himself on a plane to New York. In an interview with KissFAQ, he explained, "I always found it very inspiring to be on a plane. ... And I thought, 'I'm back in the New York groove.' That's what was in my head, because I hadn't been there for a couple of years. And I told that story about 'Many years since I was here.'"

Ballard finished his ode to the city shortly after, but the song wasn't originally given to a New York band. Instead, it went to the then-teenaged British pop/rock band Hello, who broke into the Top 10 of the U.K. charts with it in 1975. 

How did it end up in Ace Frehley's hands? Ballard and Frehley knew each other: KISS opened for Argent in 1974, and Ballard had been impressed by them. Fast forward to 1978, and that's when each member of KISS simultaneously released a solo album. KISS lore says there was a bit of bad blood between Frehley and Gene Simmons when Frehley scored the runaway hit, but Frehley later said (via LouderSound), "It didn't feel like I was getting one over on the other guys in KISS. It's just something that happened."

To hear Ace Frehley tell the story, he said that he never heard Hello's take on the iconic song — not that he could remember, at least. Appropriately, even though most of Frehley's solo album was done in Connecticut, "New York Groove" was, in fact, recorded in studios above the equally iconic Radio City Music Hall. (Fun fact: Russ Ballard also wrote another of KISS's biggest hits, "God Gave Rock and Roll to You.") 

Frehley's version of the song was something of a homecoming for it. He is, after all, a Bronx native, and it was in the Bronx that he first saw The Who perform, that he first realized he wanted to be a rock star, and that he met the other founding members of KISS. The song peaked at No. 13 on the U.S. charts and stayed there for 21 weeks, although it's possible to argue that in New York, it's never left.

Frehley had also been honest about wishing he had been the one to have written the hit, but he was also quick to clarify that he didn't. As for Russ Ballard, he's spoken about the success and subsequent longevity of the song, telling Louder Sound, "I guess it surprised me because it's so incredibly simple. They say a good song will always sell. And there's a lot of truth in that."