KISS rocker Peter Criss believes beating cancer was a "miracle".

The 80-year-old musician - who exited the band in 1980 - was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and underwent treatment before making a full recovery - and he's now revealed he prayed "very, very hard" after he was given the news by his doctor and was "at church more than the pastor".

Speaking on the KissFAQ podcast, he explained: "I had breast cancer a while back, and I prayed. I'm a very religious guy, so I really prayed very, very hard. I was at church probably more than the pastor, and I really prayed hard. And God gave me my miracle. And I felt, and I kid you not, that I really could walk on water."

He explained he wrote his new song Walking On Water about his cancer battle, adding: "Have you ever watched that Being There movie with Chauncey Gardner? And at the end he walks on water, and you realize he's an angel. I love that movie. And I felt like that.

"I felt like I could walk on the ocean, and it was such a high. I was so elated that I was cured. And so I wanted to write a religious song, and I wanted to write about the experience that I was feeling inside, 'cause I always sing from the heart.

"Everything comes from my heart. And that's one of my favorite songs. I'm glad you brought it up, because Walking On Water is special."

The song features on his latest self-titled solo album - which was released last month - and Criss declared the song is very "dear to my heart" because it's so personal.

He added: "The whole band was just dynamite. But the vocals were very - yeah, it's near and dear to my heart. It's one of my favorite songs on the album ...

"That meant so much to me about beating cancer, 'cause I'm a big cancer guy. Every year I go out on October and I raise money for men for breast cancer."

The rocker went on to insist he will never give up making music even though he's now in his 80s.

He explained: "I'll never stop, man. I ain't stopping until they put me in the box. I'm gonna keep on going till I … Music is a gift from God.

"I'm so blessed that I'm talking to you guys and talking about my writing and my composing and my feeling about music."