Gene Simmons broke down during an emotional TV interview as he opened up about his poverty-stricken childhood in Israel.
The Kiss rocker lived in the country until the age of eight, when he emigrated to the U.S. with his mother, a Holocaust survivor.
Simmons revealed the family was plunged into poverty after his father left, and he recalled the moment they received a care package containing tinned food.
The musician tells U.S. news network CNN, "My father left us when I was about six or seven and one day a box came in. A cardboard box. Later on I figured out it was a care package. I picked up my first can of food - it was a can of peaches. I had never seen canned food before, we didn't even have a toilet when I was growing up.
"She (my mother) opened it up with a knife and I remember tasting... this gets a little emotional for me... So I remember tasting those canned peaches, sweetest thing I ever had, and all of a sudden I had the idea that somebody cared and once I grew up I promised myself that I would make a difference."
Simmons admits his background was instrumental in pushing him towards charity work and he has subsequently volunteered to help children in Africa.