Tommy Thayer

His mother Patricia Thayer (née Cunningham) was a classically trained violinist and singer, and his father, James Thayer (1922–2018), was a businessman, community leader and retired US Army Brigadier General.

Thomas Cunningham Thayer (born November 7, 1960) is an American musician.

Thomas Cunningham Thayer was born on November 7, 1960, in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Beaverton, Oregon.

Early on, Thayer was raised with three brothers and a sister in a musical family, exposed to genres that ranged from classical to the Beatles and other classic 1960s pop music.

Thayer's affinity for early 1970s hard rock bands led him to pick up electric guitar at age 13.

After graduating from Sunset High School in 1978, Thayer played in local garage and club bands, eventually forming his own group with singer Jaime St. James, which eventually took the name Black 'n Blue.

Formed in November 1981, Black 'n Blue played gigs in the Portland area for over a year before making a move to Southern California in early 1983.

Within six months the band signed a recording contract with Geffen Records.

The band traveled to Germany in early 1984 to work with Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks, releasing Black 'n Blue in August 1984, featuring the songs "Hold on to 18" and "School of Hard Knocks", both co-written by Thayer and St. James.

The album was recorded in Los Angeles and New York in 1984–85.

When interviewed some years later he recalled that the two sessions he played on included Mick Fleetwood on drums, and Billy Burnette on guitar.

The follow-up Bruce Fairbairn-produced album, Without Love, was released in 1985 with Thayer, St. James and Jim Vallance co-writing the single "Miss Mystery."

After touring for two months as opening act for Kiss in fall 1985, Black 'n Blue hired Kiss bassist Gene Simmons to produce the band's next studio album Nasty Nasty, released in 1986 and In Heat in 1988.

The band subsequently broke up in late 1988.

Although no longer a permanent member of the band, Thayer has performed periodically with the other original members of Black 'n Blue for several one-off reunion and benefit concerts.

In 1989, Thayer co-wrote songs with Gene Simmons and played session guitar on song demos for Kiss' 1989 release, Hot in the Shade, which includes the Simmons and Thayer songs "Betrayed" and "The Street Giveth, The Street Taketh Away".

Thayer co-produced and played guitar on Doro Pesch's 1991 Polygram Records release, Doro.

In 1992, Thayer joined Los Angeles rock band Shake the Faith and recorded the album America the Violent, which was released in Japan in 1994.

Thayer persuaded journalist Hunter S. Thompson to create the original artwork for the album cover.

Thayer and other members of Shake the Faith continued in the band No. 9, which recorded an album for Elektra Records that was never released.

The No. 9 album included a cover of Elvis Costello's "Alison".

In 1994, Kiss' Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley hired Thayer to work part-time on their forthcoming book Kisstory, which led to other projects and eventually a full-time role with Kiss.

Thayer's work for Stanley and Simmons began by performing such tasks as painting Stanley's house and cleaning out Simmons' gutters.

Thayer managed the 1995 Worldwide Kiss Convention tour and the Kiss MTV Unplugged concert.

In preparation for 1996's Kiss Alive/Worldwide Tour, Thayer worked with guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss, to help them relearn their original guitar and drum parts from the 1970s.

Thayer worked as producer and editor of Kiss' long form video and film releases including: Kiss, The Second Coming in 1998, New Line Cinema's feature Detroit Rock City in 1998, and Showtime Television's pay-per-view, The Last Kiss in 2000.

By 2002 and with the growing uncertainty of Ace Frehley's involvement in the band, Thayer stood by for a Kiss performance at the 2002 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Salt Lake City to fill-in on lead guitar if necessary.

One month later, Thayer got the call and donned the Spaceman makeup for the first time, filling in and performing onstage with Kiss at a private concert in Trelawny, Jamaica.

Several TV appearances followed in 2002 including ABC's Dick Clark's American Bandstand 50th Anniversary Show and That 70s Show on Fox.

Thayer was the lead guitarist and vocalist for the hard rock band Kiss from 2003 to 2023.

He was also the lead guitarist for the band Black 'n Blue.

After the 2003 performance in Trelawny, Jamaica, Thayer became the lead guitarist for Kiss.

In 2003, Thayer with Kiss joined forces with the 70-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (all in Kiss makeup) for a concert at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne Australia.

Recorded and filmed in front of 40,000 fans, a pay-per-view, Kiss Symphony: Alive IV CD and DVD were released worldwide later that year.

In 2004, Thayer produced the RIAA double-platinum selling DVD set, Rock the Nation Live!, released worldwide in 2005.

Sonic Boom, the first Kiss studio album in 11 years, was released worldwide in October 2009, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart.

Thayer co-wrote three songs on the record, including his own lead vocal debut on "When Lightning Strikes."

In October 2010, the band was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in Portland, with all five members of the classic lineup (including Thayer) attending.

John Kalodner from Geffen Records invited Thayer to play on Jimmy Barnes' Australian album For The Working Class Man (released outside the Australian market as Jimmy Barnes).

Both Barnes and Thayer's group Black 'n Blue were signed to Geffen.