Kiss singer Gene Simmons will marry longtime girlfriend

Published 12:01 am Sunday, September 4, 2011

LOS ANGELES — Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed have a date to get married — finally. The KISS singer and the former Playmate have been together for 28 years and have two children.

Invitations to the Oct. 1 wedding, sent out under the kids’ names, contain art by Nick, 22, and a nontraditional message from Sophie, 18: “After 28 years of loose strings, our parents have finally decided to tie the knot.”

“Our mother will share our horrendous hyphenate of a last name and our father’s life … well, it doesn’t change that much.”

The invite isn’t all rock-star bravado, however. Teasing to the formation of “Team Tweed-Simmons,” it continues: “We will be united as a family in title and spirit forever.”

Simmons is 62 and still touring with Paul Stanley and the current incarnation of KISS; Tweed is 54.

Simmons’ proposal in Belize was naturally captured by reality-TV cameras for A&E’s show “Gene Simmons: Family Jewels,” which rolls its seventh season starting Oct. 4.