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Meet the 11-year-old Frisco kid and KISS fanatic who helped produce Gene Simmons' latest disc set

In a manicured corner of Frisco on Saturday, a line of party guests walked in from the rain and into a rather unique midday concert. Neighbors could've reasonably wondered if the president were making a stop-in, with all of the fanfare: a valet stand, large tents to block the rain and staffers checking IDs.

This wasn't a piano recital or another quaint, in-home event. This was a private concert by the one and only Gene Simmons of KISS. 

Simmons has been stopping in cities around the country to not only perform, but to provide a unique experience few rock legends have attempted on such a scale. For $2,000 each, fans received a Gene Simmons Vault -- an opulent box set of 10 CDs and assorted memorabilia encased in a 40-pound, safe-style package. Simmons personally signed the high-end box sets during individual, one-on-one meet and greet sessions, and the high-paying fans and a guest were also given the opportunity to sit a few feet away while Simmons performed an acoustic set in a Frisco living room.

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Since more than 40 Vault packages were being given out, it wasn't some quick, in-and-out affair for Simmons, who didn't seem to be in any hurry as he strummed his guitar and sang a few songs.

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Simmons' sometimes off-color banter (on the possibility of a woman president: "there'll be less war and more shopping") eased the nervousness that can occur when fans are seated within arms length of their rock idol.

But surprisingly enough, the A-list living room show was but one-half of the equation here.

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What about this suburban home? Brian and Holly Hernandez, along with their two children, 14-year-old Jake and 11-year-old Sienna, just might be D-FW's most enthusiastic members of the KISS Army.

The upstairs of the family's home is devoted to KISS, making up a sort of unofficial but wildly impressive museum. 

The area is highlighted by a classic KISS pinball game which sits a few feet away from life-sized mannequins in full KISS makeup and costumes.

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Brian has been collecting KISS memorabilia, from dolls to guitars to trading cards to signature Mr. Potato Head toys, since he was 5 years old. Holly and he have taken their kids on a few of the annual KISS Kruises -- and have gotten to know Simmons rather well.

But recently, the fandom has pivoted into something few fans of a band ever achieve -- a business partnership, of sorts. The Hernandez clan recently got into the commercial end of KISS by working with KISS by Monster Mini Golf in Las Vegas. (The company has another franchise location of the national amusement chain under construction in Frisco now, though it isn't KISS themed.)

Mom and Dad may own the house and be the longtime memorabilia collectors, but it's the 11-year old who reigns as the family's most zealous KISS fan.

"These days, we're just Mom and Dad, and Sienna is the big fan," Holly says. "It's all about her, and we're just along for the ride."

During the family's 2015 KISS Kruise trip, Sienna, then 9 years old and a bigger fan of the band than her older brother, signed up for a Simmons' master class, where a small group of fans not only went home with a signed custom bass guitar and a bass lesson but were able to co-write a song with him, one-on-one.

That's Sienna Hernandez, in the center: an 11-year-old KISS superfan from Frisco
That's Sienna Hernandez, in the center: an 11-year-old KISS superfan from Frisco(Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)

Sienna's song from that class, "I Hate Multiplication," impressed Simmons, and the two wrote another song together during the 2017 cruise event.

In fact, when Simmons came to a Dallas studio to have some of the songs he would include in the Vault package remastered, he invited Sienna and her family to join him so that Sienna could provide her opinion on which songs should be included in the collection. Her assistance in the studio won her an executive producer credit on the Vault, where her name can be found alongside professional engineers and musicians.

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"It was really special," Holly says. "It was like Brian was living his dream by watching his daughter work with his musical hero. Ten year-old Brian was going crazy."

Look inside Gene Simmons' visit to Frisco