1983-Anthony KiedisVocals1983-
FleaBass1983-
Hillel SlovakGuitar1983; 1985-1988
Jack IronsDrums1983; 1985-1988
Jack ShermanGuitar1983-1985
Cliff MartinezDrums1983-1985
Blackbyrd McKnightGuitar1988-1989
D.H. PeligroDrums1988-1989
John FruscianteGuitar1989-1992; 1999-2009; 2019-
Chad SmithDrums1989-
Arik MarshallGuitar1992-1993
Jesse TobiasGuitar1993
Dave NavarroGuitar1993-1999
Josh KlinghofferGuitar, keyboard2009-2019
Flea (real name: Michael Balzary) was born in Melbourne, Australia, but moved to Los Angeles with his mom and stepfather when he was 10, three years after his parents divorced. The name Flea comes from his manic energy - he was always bouncing around.
Kiedis was born to actor Blackie Dammett and had some early acting roles in F.I.S.T. (1978) and Jokes My Folks Never Told Me (1978). You may not have recognized him because he was billed as Cole Dammett. His mother is part Apache Indian.
Flea has had a robust acting career. His filmography includes:
The Big Lebowski (as Nihilist)
Back to the Future, Part II and Part III (as Douglas J. Needles)
My Own Private Idaho (as Budd)
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (as The Ruined Man).
Babylon (as a studio executive)
He is also the voice of Donnie on movie and TV series The Wild Thornberrys.
Irons and Slovak formed a group called What Is This? as a side project in the early 1980s, which contractually prevented them from recording with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but they quickly returned to the lineup to tour.
Anthony Kiedis and Michael "Flea" Balzary are the only members who have been with the group since the beginning. They're the group leaders, but they don't hog the songwriting credits, which are typically distributed to each member.
McKnight and Peligro were from Parliament-Funkadelic and the Dead Kennedys, respectively, but they didn't jive with the others. Frusciante was a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, who also happened to be an amazing guitarist, and they auditioned to find Chad Smith.
Flea has three children – Clara, Sunny and Darius - each born 17 years apart: in 1988, 2005, and 2022.
Dave Navarro had been the guitarist for Jane's Addiction; after his time with the Chili Peppers he returned to play with that group.
Hillel Slovak taught Flea to play bass. Flea was a trumpet prodigy who dreamed of being in a famous jazz band. He thought rock 'n' roll was for boneheads until Slovak turned him on with Jimi Hendrix and the Who. Flea has played the trumpet on records for Jane's Addiction and Mike Watt.
The group's first name, with their original lineup, was Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem.
One of the band's trademark live acts is playing onstage completely naked except for one strategically placed tube sock. This bit began in the early '80s when RHCP played gigs at a strip club called The Kit Kat, and it quickly became the most anticipated part of their act.
In their later years, they began wearing pants onstage, but the concept of the shirt still seemed to elude them. At the Woodstock concert in '99, Flea performed completely naked.
John Frusciante (pronounced Froo-shon-tay) released a couple of solo albums during his mid-'90s break from the band. This didn't stop his drug addiction, nor did it keep him for being homeless and broke. Only when he checked himself into rehab did he finally return to the band.
Anthony, Flea, and Hillel were once a band called "We Three."
After quitting RHCP on May 7, 1992, Frusciante spent most of his time painting, writing stories, figuring out mathematical equations and science theories, as well as writing scripts.
Their first guitarist, Hillel Slovak, died of a heroin overdose in 1988 after making three albums with the band. Their next guitarist was John Frusciante, who left in 1992 when he developed a heroin addiction. He was replaced by Dave Navarro, formerly the guitarist in Jane’s Addiction, who played with them from 1993 to 1998. After getting clean, Frusciante rejoined the group in 1998 and became a key creative force on their 1999 comeback album, Californication.
The band formed at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, where Phil Spector, Herb Alpert and Slash also attended. When Flea returned to the school for a visit years later, the music department had been gutted, which prompted him in 2001 to start the nonprofit Silverlake Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, offering music lessons and instruments to children in need.
After seeing a documentary explaining how meat is made, Kiedis became a vegetarian. In 2008, he was named Sexiest Male Vegetarian Alive by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
In late 2009, John Frusciante announced his exit from the band. In a post on his blog, he revealed that he had quit the group more than a year earlier and mentioned a desire to make a different kind of music, alone. He released a series of solo albums before re-joining the band in 2019.
Dave Navarro's first performance with the band was with a giant light bulb on his head. This took place when they appeared at Woodstock '94 donning the unusual headgear. Navarro was not pleased; "We forced him to do it" Kiedis said from the stage.
Flea and Kiedis appeared in the 1994 comedy The Chase, as two stoners hellbent on chasing down fugitive Charlie Sheen's runaway car with their monster truck.
Flea keeps honeybees as a hobby. In 2015, his Los Angeles backyard had an apiary with three beehives and over 200,000 bees.
Flea has described Kiedis as his "soulmate," and said their relationship is "like some weird psychological study." Even after decades together in the band, they continued to hang out outside of work.
In 2008 at the age of 45, Flea enrolled as a freshman at University of Southern California's music program. He studied music theory, composition and jazz trumpet.
RHCP drummer Chad Smith looks a lot like Will Ferrell. In 2014 they played this up by dressing alike and
having a drum-off on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Ferrell won by breaking out his
famous cowbell).
When Ferrell hosted the season finale of
Saturday Night Live in 2026, Smith came out for the opening monologue impersonating Ferrell. It was almost believable until he started talking - they don't sound alike at all. Smith stuck around to play drums for Paul McCartney, who was the musical guest.
