Editing Gene Simmons (section)

==Early life and education==
Simmons was born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949, at [[Rambam Hospital]] in [[Haifa]], Israel, to Jewish refugees from Hungary. His mother, Flóra Kovács (later Florence Klein then Lubowski) (1925–2018)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-06 |title=Gene Simmons' mother, Flora Klein, passes away at 92 |url=https://consequence.net/2018/12/gene-simmons-mother-flora-klein-passes-away/ |access-date=2024-09-29 |language=en-US}}</ref> was born in [[Jánd]], in the [[Northern Great Plain]] region of eastern Hungary, and survived internment in [[Nazi concentration camps]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arlene-lassin/gene-simmons-mom-the-hologene-simmons-mom-the-holocaust-and-me_b_7082854.html|title=Gene Simmons' Mom, the Holocaust, and Me|work=[[HuffPost]]|access-date=June 14, 2015|date=April 17, 2015}}</ref> from November 1944 to her liberation from the [[Mauthausen concentration camp|Mauthausen]] camp in [[Austria]] on May 5, 1945.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Oster |first=Marcy |date=5 May 2020 |title=Kiss frontman Simmons learns about Holocaust survivor mother's ordeal |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/kiss-frontman-simmons-learns-about-holocaust-survivor-mothers-ordeal/ |access-date=29 Sep 2024 |work=Times of Israel}}</ref> She and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive [[the Holocaust]]. Simmons' father, Ferenc "Feri" Yehiel Witz (1925–2002), was a carpenter whom Klein married in 1946 and the couple moved to Israel the following year.<ref name=":2" /> Simmons spent his early childhood in [[Tirat Carmel]] and was raised in a practicing Jewish household. He has said that his family was "dirt poor", scraping by on rationed bread and milk.<ref name=haaretz>{{cite web|last=Associated|first=The|url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/lead-singer-of-kiss-gene-simmons-slams-israel-boycotters-1.351197|title=Lead singer of Kiss Gene Simmons slams Israel boycotters |work=[[Haaretz]] |location=Israel |date=March 22, 2011 |access-date=August 10, 2011}}</ref> At the age of seven, he began to pick wild fruit and sell it on roadsides together with a friend.<ref>{{cite news |last=Smale |first=Will |title=The rock star who can never be too rich |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-32301157 |publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=April 19, 2015 |access-date=March 21, 2022}}</ref>

At age eight, after his parents’ divorce, he and his mother [[Jewish immigration to the United States|emigrated to the United States]], settling in [[Queens]], [[New York City]]. His father remained in Israel, where he had another son and three daughters. In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Gene Klein, adopting his mother's maiden name. When he was nine, he briefly attended a Jewish religious school, [[Yeshiva Torah Vodaas]], before transferring to a public school. He graduated from [[Newtown High School (Elmhurst)|Newtown High School]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.qchron.com/qboro/i_have_often_walked/gene-simmons-rocked-jackson-heights-before-kiss/article_c496f2bf-19ce-5174-943e-5e030a58861b.html#:~:text=Chaim%20changed%20his%20name%20to,he%20sang%20in%20the%20choir | title=Gene Simmons rocked Jackson Heights before KISS | date=June 8, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=1949: A Hard Rocker Demon and Good Jewish Boy is Born |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1949-a-hard-rocker-demon-is-born-1.5390524 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=August 25, 2015}}</ref> He later attended [[Sullivan County Community College]] in New York, and  [[Richmond College (New York City)|Richmond College]]<ref>{{cite web |title=College of Staten Island CUNY |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/college-staten-island-cuny |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628044216/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/college-staten-island-cuny |archive-date=June 28, 2018 |access-date=September 19, 2018 |website=Times Higher Education (THE)}}</ref> in [[Staten Island]], New York where he graduated with a [[Bachelor's degree|BA]] in [[Education]]<ref>https://x.com/genesimmons/status/1157007533225046017</ref> in 1970.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Island |first=Secret Staten |date=2012-02-06 |title=Gene Simmons a School Teacher? |url=https://www.secretstatenisland.com/gene-simmons-school-teacher/ |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=Secret Staten Island |language=en}}</ref>

Before his musical career began, Klein worked a variety of jobs in the city. A proficient typist, he served as an assistant to an editor of ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'', and spent 6 months as a sixth grade instructor on the [[Upper West Side]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Barbara |title=Gene Simmons Was Sixth Grade Teacher |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19780604&id=sJJNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5422,1350574 |newspaper=The Lakeland Ledger |date=June 4, 1978}}</ref>

[[The Beatles]] had a significant influence on Simmons. "There is no way I'd be doing what I do now if it wasn't for the Beatles. I was watching ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'' and I saw them. Those skinny little boys, kind of androgynous, with long hair like girls. It blew me away that these four boys [from] the middle of nowhere could make that music."<ref>Crandall, Bill. [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/10-musicians-who-saw-the-beatles-standing-there "10 musicians who saw the Beatles standing there"], CBS News, February 6, 2014.</ref>

He chose his stage name in tribute to the rockabilly singer [[Jumpin' Gene Simmons]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Gene Simmons |url=http://JewishVirtualLibrary.org/gene-simmons |encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=February 17, 2019}}</ref> (in other interviews he claimed his stage name was inspired by actress [[Jean Simmons]] and he used the title of her 1946 film [[Great Expectations (1946 film)|Great Expectations]] for a song on the 1976 album "[[Destroyer (Kiss album)|Destroyer]]"). He practiced playing his guitar for hours on end.<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Dale |title=KISS army continues to grow |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GkEKAAAAIBAJ&pg=6424%2C900667 |work=The Victoria Advocate |date=October 4, 1998 |page=10D |access-date=March 21, 2022}}</ref>