Anthony Kiedis

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Anthony Kiedis

Anthony Kiedis is the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He and bassist Flea founded the California-based funk - rock group in 1983. He was born on November 1, 1962 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is 5'10'' tall, has brown eyes, brown hair and nine tattoos.

Anthony's parents John (a.k.a. Blackie Dammet, who is the administrator of the Red Hot Chili Peppers homepage) and Margaret (a.k.a Peggy) divorced in 1968. He lived with his mother in Michigan until he was 11, then in California with his father. Anthony has a half-sister, Julie.

He has had many struggles with drug addiction, including heroin and cocaine. He was introduced to drugs by his father when he was just a teenager. He initially became clean after the death of bandmember Hillel Slovak for 5 years, but relapsed many times, until finally becoming clean again in early 2002 to present.

He appeared as an actor in Point Break playing Tone with Keanu Reeves in 1991, and in "The Chase" in 1994 with Flea playing Will.

In 2004 Kiedis published a memoir called Scar Tissue [1].

The Red Hot Chili Peppers

The early lineup of Flea on bass, Hillel Slovak on guitar, Jack Irons on drums, and lead singer Anthony first met at LA's Fairfax High School, where they began making music together as Anthym. Years later, in 1984, the band reunited as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Word of their live gigs and the socks on cocks gimmick spread quickly in LA clubs, resulting in a record deal with EMI. But Slovak and Irons left before the recording of their eponymously titled debut album, a lacklustre affair memorable only for the warped funk of "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes".

By 1985, Slovak had returned to the fold ready for the band's second album, Freaky Styley, which was produced, appropriately enough, by Parliament's P-Funk maestro George Clinton. It was a more accomplished outing, with party driven groove-funk as the order of the day, although it still lacked the fire of their live appearances. After Freaky Styley Irons reunited with the band. Their reputation as non-PC party animals was cemented with their third album, 1987's The Uplift Mofo Party Plan which featured such endearing titles as "Party On Your Pussy". Dodgy song titles aside, the album was the group's first to trouble the charts and they followed it up a year later with the stop-gap EP, The Abbey Road EP in 1988. But just as the world was warming to the wacky world of the Chilis, tragedy struck when Hillel Slovak died from a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988.

In the wake of Slovak's death, Irons left the group for the second and final time, while Kiedis (who was also battling drug addiction at the time) and Flea decided to soldier on. After a new lineup consisting of former Parliament guitarist Blackbird McKnight and former Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro didn't work out, the duo found worthy replacements in newcomers John Frusciante and Chad Smith. The new-look Chili Peppers hit pay dirt straight away, as their first album together, 1989's Mother's Milk, became a surprise hit due to MTV's exposure of their videos for a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and a song about their fallen friend Slovak, "Knock Me Down," as the album was certified gold by early 1990. The group knew that their next release would be the most important one of their career, so they moved into a mansion-turned-recording studio with producer Rick Rubin to work on what would become their most successful release yet, the stripped down Blood Sugar Sex Magik (their first for the Warner Bros label). The album became a monster hit upon it's September 1991 release (going on to eventually sell a staggering seven million copies in the U.S. alone), as it spawned such hits as "Give It Away" and the group's first Top Ten single, "Under the Bridge."

But not all was well in the Chili Peppers camp. Like his predecessor, Frusciante had become addicted to hard drugs, and abruptly left the band mid-tour in early 1992. Undeterred, the band enlisted new member Arik Marshall, and headlined Lollapalooza II in the summer. When the band returned to the studio to work on their sixth release overall, it quickly became apparent that Marshall didn't fit in, and was replaced by Jesse Tobias. But before Tobias could record a note with the group, he was handed his walking papers as well, and former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro signed on. After a lay-off of four years, the Peppers' much-delayed follow-up to BSSM was released in 1995, One Hot Minute. While the album was a sizeable hit, it failed to match the success and musical focus of its predecessor, as it became apparent during the album's ensuing tour that Navarro wasn't fitting in as well as originally hoped, and left the band in early 1998.

After Frusciante had left the group, he released a pair of obscure solo releases, 1995's Niandra Ladies and Usually Just a T-Shirt and 1997's Smile From the Streets You Hold, yet rumors circulated that the guitarist was homeless, penniless, and sickly with a death-defying drug habit. After checking himself into rehab and putting his demons behind him, Frusciante emerged once again re-focused and re-energized, and promptly accepted an invitation to rejoin the Peppers once more. The group's reunion album, 1999's Californication, proved to be another monster success, reconfirming the Chili Peppers as one of alternative rock's top bands. The band put in a quick guest appearance on Fishbone's Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx before hitting the road to support the album. The following months found the band getting involved in bizarre situations and controversies. First, their refusal to play songs from One Hot Minute during the tour was an unpopular decision with some fans and a sore spot for Dave Navarro. Next, they reignited a personal feud between Kiedis and Mr. Bungle singer Mike Patton by refusing to play a series of European concerts with Bungle. Patton responded with a "tribute" show for the Peppers, where Bungle mocked their stage moves, faked shooting up heroin, and imitated Kiedis's comments about Patton. They also played the ill-fated Woodstock '99 festival, where their headlining performance was met with piles of burning rubble and a full-scale riot. Tours with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam brought them into the next year without problems, but they stepped off the road after a planned stop in Israel was haulted due to security worries. They returned to the studio in November of 2001 and by the summer of 2002 they had a new album ready to drop, By the Way.

Anthony is a practicing vegetarian.

Attributed quotes

• "Music is a built-in lubricant to create itself. Once you start playing, the sort of chemicals and spirits that get released inspire you to become even more creative."
• "... I would write lyrics for hours every day, but sometimes there were periods when new music would accumulate and I wouldn't have ideas for all of it. To get a change of atmosphere, I'd get on my motorcycle, drive to a corner of the island, find a bed-and-breakfast, and hole up with my tapes and write lyrics. I remember coming back once and Chad saying out of nowhere, 'What's the matter, are you having writer's block?" I had to educate him that there was no such thing as writer's block, that writers write when they write, and when they don't, they don't." - Scar Tissue

Memorable song lyrics

• "Destruction leads to a very rough road/but it also breeds creation..." - "Californication"
• "Soft spoken with a broken jaw/step outside but not to brawl..." - "Scar Tissue"
• "Travel round the world getting naked on the stage/bustin' people out of their everyday cage"- "Good Time Boys"
• "Can't stop/addicted to the shin-dig/top cop/he says I'm gonna win big..." - "Can't Stop"
• "They say in chess you've got to kill the queen and then you've made it..." - "Fortune Faded"
• "Over the laws of light/over the moon by midnight...." - "Midnight"
• "I like pleasure/spiked with pain/music is my aeroplane..." - "Aeroplane"
• "Standing in line to see the show tonight/and there's a light on/ heavy glow..." - "By The Way"
• "These are the melancholy mechanics of my mind..." - "Melancholy Mechanics"
• "Around the world I feel dutiful/take a wife 'cause life is beautiful..." - "Around the World"
• "On the day my best friend died I could not get my copper cleaned..." - "This is the Place"
• "The story of a woman on the morning of a war/remind me if you will exactly what we're fighting for..." - "Easily"
• "Take me to the place I love/take me all the way..." - "Under the Bridge"
• "When high's are the low and low's are the way/so hard to stay..." - "Tearjerker"
• "You do a little dance and then you drink a little water..." - "Give It Away"
• "Twisting and turning/your feelings are burning/you're breaking the girl..." - "Breaking the Girl"
• "To give your love no matter what..." - "My Friends"
• "Christ/I'm a sidewinder/I'm a California king..." - "Parallel Universe"
• "This is the way I wanted it to be with you/this is the way I knew that it would be with you..." - "Dosed"
• "There are no monks in my band..." - "Funky Monks"
• "I could have lied/I'm such a fool/my eyes could never, never keep their cool..." - "I Could Have Lied"
• "To fingerpaint is not a sin/I put my middle finger in..." - "Purple Stain"
• "Dr. Doolittle what's your secret/give it to me Dr./don't keep it..." - "Naked in the Rain"
• "Cut my heart out with a feather and put an end to any extra pressure..." - "Someone"
• "You're barely there/you voice is crackin' up across state lines..." - "Out of Range"
• "Where I go I just don't know/I've got to, got to, gotta take it slow..." - "Soul to Squeeze"
• "History so strong/blood and border lines be drawn..." - "Save the Population"
• "Are you coming through/do you want me to take your body..." - "Bunker Hill"
• "Deep, deep mystery is talking to me..." - "Rivers of Avalon"
• "Who will be my eskimo/that's what I wanna know..." - "Eskimo"
• "Meet me at the coffee shop/we can dance like Iggy Pop..." - "Coffee Shop"
• "All we are are leaves that fall/that's all..." - "Transcending"
• "Warped and scared of being there..." - "Warped"
• "Your solar eyes are like nothing I have ever seen..." - "This Velvet Glove"
• "Your hero's destined to waver/anyone can..." - "Savior"
• "Simply put/I saw your love stream flow..." - "Universally Speaking"
• "You always took me with a smile when I was down..." - "On Mercury"
• "Give to me sweet sacred bliss/your mouth was made to suck my kiss..." - "Suck My Kiss"
• "I'm a dance hall/dirty breakbeat/make the snow fall up from underneath your feet..." - "Don't Forget Me"
• "Holy cow/bow-wow wow/now I'm here/I'm nowhere now..." - "Right On Time"
• "Blue/you sit so pretty west of the one/sparkle light with yellow icing/just a mirror for the sun..." - "Road Trippin'"

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