Former KISS keyboardist Gary Corbett is battling a very aggressive form of lung cancer that has metastasized to his brain and hip. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help him and his wife as they are facing devastating medical bills while he goes through treatment.
As many fans know, most musicians don’t have health insurance, or when they do, it’s not that great. Due to the costs of treatment, Gary is on the verge of losing his home, and the medical bills are piling up alongside all the other bills. He has completed a series of radiation therapy, is undergoing an aggressive series of chemo and immunotherapy, and is slated to start cognitive and occupational therapy soon.
Gary and his wife Lenora are desperate. They cannot afford to pay for his treatment and stopping it is not an option. This is where your help comes in: This money will help pay his outrageous medical costs and keep his bills and mortgage paid while he’s coping with his illness and the long road to recovery.
According to LA Weekly, Corbett played offstage keyboards and handled background vocals on KISS tours promoting late-’80s and early-’90s LPs “Crazy Nights”, “Hot In The Shade” and “Revenge”. Before that, his credits included co-writing Cyndi Lauper‘s Top 5 hit “She Bop” and working with the solo band of former FOREIGNER singer Lou Gramm, who recommended Corbett to KISS frontman Paul Stanley.
“There seemed to be a trend in the ’80s that bands didn’t want the image of having a keyboard player onstage,” Corbett told LA Weekly. “Some people think keyboards aren’t as much of a rock instrument as a guitar. Gene Simmons is definitely of that mindset. At every soundcheck, if the soundman asked me, ‘Could you just give me a couple of notes,’ [Simmons] would immediately put his hands behind his back and act like he was ice skating around a rink.”
In his interview with LA Weekly, Corbett recounted a particularly memorable experience playing with KISS at the 1988 “Monsters Of Rock” festival. “It was such a big show that they had big Diamond Vision screens on each side of the stage,” he said. “So when the guys that were working the cameras on the side of the stage were roaming around and filming everything, I guess nobody told them that they weren’t supposed to be filming me. So during ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’, I’m standing there singing and playing and having a good time. And later I found out I was on the big screens in front of, like, 60,000 people, which I don’t think made the guys very happy.”
After KISS, Corbett played with CINDERELLA until 2011. He also got a couple of Grammys for his work with reggae legends Damian and Stephen Marley.
