Kiss Removed From Michael Jackson Tribute Concert

Gene Simmons of Kiss.

DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images

Kiss has been dropped from a Michael Jackson tribute concert following objections from fans and the singer's estate regarding bassist Gene Simmons' remarks insisting that the late singer had molested children.

"Under the circumstances, we fully agree that even though Kiss is a band Michael admired, we have no choice but to rescind our invitation to them to appear in our tribute concert," Global Live Events CEO Chris Hunt wrote in a statement yesterday.

Simmons has spoken candidly about his belief that Jackson had molested children in several interviews over the years, including some comments that came within days of the King of Pop's death in 2009. "Well, you know, where there's smoke, there's fire," Simmons told Classic Rock magazine last year. "There's no question in my mind he molested those kids. Not a doubt."

Photos: Michael Jackson Remembered
Michael Forever: The Tribute Concert is scheduled for October 8th at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. As of now, the show will feature performances by Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Smokey Robinson, Leona Lewis, Alien Ant Farm and Craig David.

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter