Gene Simmons Hospitalized After Malibu Car Crash — Wife Shannon Shares Update

Rock leg­end Gene Sim­mons, the icon­ic front­man of KISS, was report­ed­ly hos­pi­tal­ized fol­low­ing a car crash in Mal­ibu on Tues­day, Octo­ber 7. The 76-year-old musi­cian is now “recov­er­ing at home,” accord­ing to his wife, Shan­non Tweed Sim­mons, who spoke with NBC4 Los Ange­les.

Author­i­ties from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Sta­tion con­firmed to PEOPLE that an inci­dent involv­ing a car strik­ing a parked vehi­cle occurred around 1 p.m. on the Pacif­ic Coast High­way, near the 25000 block. The dri­ver — lat­er iden­ti­fied by NBC4 as Sim­mons — was trans­port­ed to the hos­pi­tal by L.A. Coun­ty Fire for treat­ment.

Musi­cian Gene Sim­mons from the band KISS attends “The Vault” launch at Elec­tric Lady Stu­dio on Sep­tem­ber 15, 2017 in New York City.

Accord­ing to reports, Sim­mons told deputies he may have passed out or faint­ed behind the wheel before his SUV veered across mul­ti­ple lanes of traf­fic and col­lid­ed with a parked car. His wife Shan­non, 68, said doc­tors had recent­ly adjust­ed his med­ica­tion, which could have con­tributed to the episode.

Nei­ther Shan­non nor Sim­mons’ rep­re­sen­ta­tives have yet respond­ed to PEOPLE’s request for com­ment.

The inci­dent comes at a sig­nif­i­cant moment for the rock­er. Just months after KISS wrapped up their mas­sive End of the Road farewell tour in 2023, Sim­mons was prepar­ing to reunite with band­mates Paul Stan­ley and Tom­my Thay­er for the KISS Army Storms Vegas cel­e­bra­tion this Novem­ber. The three-day event, run­ning Novem­ber 14–16, will mark the band’s 50th anniver­sary and fea­ture an “unmasked” Sim­mons, Q&A ses­sions, trib­ute per­for­mances, and even a KISS look-alike con­test.

Gene Sim­mons per­form­ing in Munich, Ger­many in 2023.

Despite the health scare, Sim­mons’ fans — the ever-loy­al KISS Army — are hope­ful he’ll be fit to make the trip to Las Vegas.

Sim­mons, known for his busi­ness savvy and larg­er-than-life per­sona, recent­ly made head­lines for can­did remarks about wealth and work eth­ic. “It’s bet­ter to be rich than poor — it real­ly is,” he told Ulti­mate Clas­sic Rock. “And if you’re a mis­er­able per­son, it’s still bet­ter to be a rich, mis­er­able per­son.”

For now, the God of Thun­der is tak­ing time to rest — and fans every­where are wish­ing him a full recov­ery before he takes the stage once more.