After being introduced to the band by songwriter [[Adam Mitchell (songwriter)|Adam Mitchell]],<ref name="kissasylum">{{cite web|url=http://www.kissasylum.com/vault/issue9.html|title=KISS Asylum: KISS Thought Vault: Issue #9|publisher=kissasylum.com|access-date=September 4, 2015|archive-date=July 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723005842/http://www.kissasylum.com/vault/issue9.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Vincent was brought in as the replacement for guitarist [[Ace Frehley]]. Vincent's personality meshed well with [[Gene Simmons]] and [[Paul Stanley]], thus enabling him to play lead guitar on six of the nine tracks on the ''[[Creatures of the Night]]'' album as well as co-writing three. After a commercially disappointing [[Creatures of the Night Tour/10th Anniversary Tour|Creatures of the Night/Tenth Anniversary tour]], that finished on a high at what ended up being the "last" makeup show (and Kiss' largest crowd attendance) at Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, BrasilBrazil, Vincent returned to the studio with Kiss to record the ''[[Lick It Up]]'' album. His work was productive, yielding eight co-writes out of the ten songs on the album (a record for any member until [[Bruce Kulick]]'s nine out of 12 on ''[[Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions|Carnival of Souls]]'' and Stanley's 10 out of 13 on ''[[Monster (Kiss album)|Monster]]'').

Though contributing to ''Creatures of the Night'' as a session player before being named as Frehley's replacement in December 1982, Vincent, for all the public knew, was the official guitarist in Kiss and played all the lead guitar tracks on ''Lick it Up''. In what was a frequent occurrence for former guitarist Frehley, a "ghost player" was asked to play on the album, with [[Rick Derringer]] recording the solo on the opening track.<ref>{{Cite web |last=published |firstauthor1=Andrew Daly |date=2024-08-15 |title=“There’s"There's no denying that the thought of Robben Ford playing on a Kiss album is weird”weird": A brief history of Kiss’sKiss's session guitarists – featuring Bob Kulick, Dick Wagner, Rick Derringer and more... |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/kiss-session-guitarists |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=guitarworld |language=en}}</ref>

Following his departure from Kiss in mid-1984, Vincent used the money he made from his tenure in the band to take a long vacation, traveling the world for a full year and visiting places like [[Tahiti]], [[Philippines]], [[Mozambique]], [[India]], and [[European Union|Europe]], including a visit to the small town of [[Mora Municipality, Sweden|Mora]] in [[Dalarna]], [[Sweden]].<ref name="forumbilder">{{cite web|url=http://forumbilder.se/images/8317200911401762e1.jpg|title=Image: 8317200911401762e1.jpg, (570 × 784 px)|publisher=forumbilder.se|access-date=September 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219074453/http://forumbilder.se/images/8317200911401762e1.jpg|archive-date=December 19, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> That same year Vincent was hospitalized for mental health related issues, and also wrote songs and recorded demos of six new songs intended for Kiss with drummer [[https://www.hirshgardner.com/ Hirsh Gardner]]<ref>{{Cite book |lastlast1=Bergdahl |firstfirst1=Alex |title=Time Traveller |last2=Linnaeus |first2=Carl |publisher=Gain |year=2023 |location=Sweden |language=Swedish}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Asplund |first=Tony |date=2024-04-17 |title=KISS Time Traveler: Recension + lång intervju med Alex Bergdahl och Carl Linnaeus |url=https://www.rockbladet.se/2024/04/kiss-time-traveler-recension-lang-intervju-med-alex-bergdahl-och-carl-linnaeus/ |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=ROCKBLADET.SE |language=en-US}}</ref> Then he formed the band [[Vinnie Vincent Invasion]] with, among others, former [[Journey (band)|Journey]] singer [[Robert Fleischman]] in the mid-1980s and released two studio albums: ''[[Vinnie Vincent Invasion (album)|Vinnie Vincent Invasion]]'' in 1986 and ''[[All Systems Go (Vinnie Vincent Invasion album)|All Systems Go]]'' in 1988. The band broke up in 1989. After that, the band's singer [[Mark Slaughter]] and bassist [[Dana Strum]] formed [[Slaughter (band)|Slaughter]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Jeff Giles |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/vinnie-vincent-invasion-end/ |title=Mark Slaughter Looks Back on the Band Mutiny That Ended the Vinnie Vincent Invasion |website=Ultimateclassicrock.com |date=April 16, 2015 |access-date=November 30, 2021 |archive-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112001521/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/vinnie-vincent-invasion-end/ |url-status=live }}</ref>