Gene Simmons to Receive IEBA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026
KISS co-founder Gene Simmons will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA) at the 2026 IEBA Honors & Awards ceremony. The award will be presented on October 6 at The Pinnacle Nashville, concluding IEBA’s 56th annual conference, which runs from October 4 to 6.
IEBA Executive Director Brian Wagner said Simmons represents the lasting impact the award was created to recognize. The organization specifically points to KISS’s influence on the scale of live rock performances and Simmons’s role in connecting music, spectacle, performance and branding.
Simmons and Paul Stanley formed KISS in 1972 with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 and has sold more than 100 million CDs and DVDs worldwide. The KISS brand has also expanded into more than 5,000 licensed and merchandise products.
Founded in 1970, IEBA is a trade organization representing more than 2,200 live entertainment professionals, including talent buyers, agents, promoters, venue executives and festival professionals.
Photo: Andrey Lukovnikov
