KISS Guitarist Ace Frehley On Life Support With Brain Bleed

Ace Frehley's family announced he passed away Thursday evening.

Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist for KISS, is hospitalized on life support, and the prognosis is not good ... TMZ has learned.

Sources familiar with Ace's situation tell us ... he suffered a brain bleed when he took a fall in his studio a couple weeks ago -- forcing him to cancel his upcoming tour dates -- but his health has not improved.

We're told he's been on a ventilator for some time, and hasn't gotten better -- so, his family is considering turning off support ... perhaps as soon as Thursday evening.

While there are several social media posts indicating he's already passed ... we're told the 74-year-old guitar icon was still on the ventilator as of Thursday afternoon.

Following Frehley's fall and subsequent cancelations ... a September 25 statement on his official IG page claimed, "He is fine, but against his wishes, his doctor insists that he refrain from travel at this time."

A week later, a second statement was released, stating simply ... "Due to some ongoing medical issues, Ace has made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of his 2025 dates."

The musician was a founding member of KISS ... linking up with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss. He shredded guitar with the group from 1973 to 1982 -- but, left the group amid creative differences and substance abuse issues.

Frehley then struck out on a solo career ... founding the band Frehley's Comet -- his own nickname was "The Spaceman" -- which played together from 1984 to 1988. He rejoined the group for their 1996 reunion tour and remained with them until 2002.