Gene Simmons has released a new music video for “Stormy Weather,” the 1933 jazz standard he covered for the recently released Reagan biopic.
The clip alternates between footage of Simmons — dressed down in a black button-up shirt, flat-brim hat and sunglasses — singing in the vocal booth and scenes from film featuring Dennis Quaid, who stars as the titular Ronald Reagan, and Mena Suvari as his first wife Jane Wyman. You can watch it below.
Simmons is one of many artists to put his stamp on “Stormy Weather” over the years. Ethel Waters first recorded the song, written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, in 1933; her version was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. Other famous artists to cover the song include Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Charles Mingus, Etta James and Judy Garland.
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“It seemed to me during the scenes where Ronald Reagan was sitting with Jane Wyman at the club, there would probably be music playing in the background,” Simmons told Newsweek. “I was actually thrilled that the producers thought my version of the song would work in the scene.”
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The Kiss leader called Reagan a “great American” who will “certainly go down in future generations as one of America’s great presidents,” adding: “Interestingly, and I suspect the masses didn’t know this about President Reagan, he started off as an actor, joined the Democratic Party, then became disillusioned with the Democratic party and joined the Republican party.”
Simmons’ “Stormy Weather” video arrives almost exactly one year after Kiss played their final show at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He’s continued to tour with his solo band this year, and Kiss is now working on a five-part documentary about their End of the Road farewell tour.
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