The widow of KISS’s longtime guitar tech is now suing the band amidst wrongful death allegations
As reported by Rolling Stone, a lawsuit for wrongful death has been filed by the family of Francis Stueber, the longtime guitar technician for KISS. Stueber tragically passed away in 2021 after contracting COVID-19 during KISS‘s “End Of The Road” tour. The lawsuit lists several defendants, including KISS founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, their longtime manager Doc McGhee, the tour’s promoter Live Nation, and hotel chain Marriott International.
Francis Stueber had been an integral part of the KISS team, contributing his technical expertise to all KISS and Stanley solo tours and one-off performances from 2002 until his unfortunate passing in October 2021. He even joined the band onstage during a “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” episode, where KISS played for the troops. Stueber was also present during Stanley‘s recording of his 2006 solo album, “Live To Win,” and had worked behind the scenes with other notable artists, including HEART, THE OFFSPRING, and REO SPEEDWAGON‘s Kevin Cronin.
On Wednesday, in Los Angeles, the widow of Francis, accompanied by several family members, filed a lawsuit that alleges negligence and wrongful death.
“As a direct and proximate result of the dangerous condition created by Defendants,” the suit said, “Decedent suffered fatal injuries and Plaintiffs suffered damages, including, but not limited to funeral and burial expenses, the permanent deprivation of the love companionship, affection solace, society, comfort, assistance, services and financial contributions, and moral support of Decedent in an amount according to proof at trial.”
Stueber‘s family claims that “the failure to enforce or have adequate Covid-19 policies or procedures caused a Covid-19 outbreak amongst band members and tour personnel.”
“Defendants, and each of them, whether through acts and/or omission to act, breached their duty to Plaintiffs by their negligent production, operation, inspection, supervision, management and control over The End of the Road Tour that ultimately resulted in the death of Decedent,” the suit said.
Shortly following Stueber‘s passing, KISS responded to allegations of inadequate COVID-19 protocols during their “End Of The Road” U.S. tour. The iconic rock band issued a statement in their defense, countering claims made by a group of their roadies, who, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, implied that the absence of stringent COVID protocols on the tour contributed to Stueber‘s tragic death. Stueber lost his life to COVID-19 in his Detroit hotel room on October 17, a mere two days after going into quarantine. He was 53 years old.
“We are profoundly heartbroken at the loss of Francis, he was a friend and colleague of 20 years, there is no way to replace him,” KISS said in its statement. “Millions of people have lost someone special to this horrific virus and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated. Please protect yourself and your loved ones.
“Our ‘End Of The Road’ world tour absolutely had COVID safety protocols in place that met, but most often exceeded, federal, state, and local guidelines,” the band added. “But ultimately this is still a global pandemic and there is simply no foolproof way to tour without some element of risk.”
KISS‘s statement was issued in response to comments made by a number of crew members claiming a lack of COVID protocols while on tour. One roadie told Rolling Stone: “I couldn’t believe how unsafe it was, and that we were still going. We’d been frustrated for weeks, and by the time Fran died, I just thought, ‘You have to be fucking kidding me.'”
“Every day during the shows, we weren’t tested,” one of the roadies said. “And there are so many unknowns. Did we superspread this? Did we spread this thing from city to city? It’s horrible that Fran passed, and it’s horrible if this is our protocol just for us to tour. Is this going to be the normal, to stick someone in a hotel? And if somebody dies, ‘Oh, well, off to the next guy?'”
KISS production manager Robert Long did go on to confirm that daily testing was not implemented during the tour however did insist that he did not discourage testing.
“I never told anyone we didn’t want to test them,” Long told Rolling Stone. “If you wanted a test, we’d supply it. If you wanted to get tested, if you felt symptoms, if you think someone might be sick, please raise your hand. We had thermometers on every bus, sheets to write down temperatures every morning, mask boxes, and sanitizers everywhere. People were getting tested every other day, we ordered tests regularly. I’m not going to not test people; I take this shit seriously.”
