KISS bassist Gene Simmons spoke in an interview with This Is Money and revealed how he became a millionaire.
He also shared a tragic story about his childhood times in Israel. Here’s the statement:
“My father left me and my mother when I was six. My mother was Hungarian and at age 14 was transported to a concentration camp in Germany.
She provided for us by the sweat of her brow and taught me to have a good work ethic.
We moved to America when I was eight and she worked in a factory making coats. It was not unionised so they paid her whatever they wanted – half a cent for every button sewn on a winter coat.”
Interviewer said ‘Was money tight in your family?’, Gene responded:
Yes. If my mother did not work hard enough we did not eat. When living in Israel we had little, lived in one room and the toilet was a hole outside.
I never knew about toilet paper and could only dream at the thought of blowing your nose on a piece of paper and throwing it away after using it only once.
I have never forgotten that money is hard to come by. I now have a big house but I could have one in many countries. I could own a fleet of jets, but I do not want any of that. I live comfortably.
On his first paid work, he said:
“Working for a butcher after school when aged 12. They would chop off the chickens’ heads on a block and the fat would build up.
It was my job to wash off the blood and guts. I got paid $9.25 a week which was a lot of money in those days.”
Click here to entire interview.
