mark st.john - lead guitar

born: mark norton
birthdate: february 7, 1956
born in: anaheim, california

after firing vinnie vincent, kiss was looking for a "shredder" who could bring kiss to the fore front of modern rock guitar. they wanted a fast gun who could play the "two-handed, dive bomb, whammy bar" style of guitar playing. kiss hired mark st.john.

during the recording of "animalize", st.john could'nt play the solo to "lonely is the hunter", and paul called in bruce kulick for that song. mark had developed a form of arthritis, called reiter's syndrome, making it impossible to play guitar. bruce kulick was called in again to replace st.john on the tour. when the tour finished, kiss chose bruce to replace st.john permanently.