Anthony Kiedis

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Anthony Kiedis

Anthony Kiedis (born November 1, 1962) is an american singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and one of the founding members of the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis writes the majority of the band's lyrics, with guitarist John Frusciante and/or bassist Flea contributing if needed.

Biography

Early life

Anthony Kiedis was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 1, 1962 to John Kiedis and Margaret "Peggy" Idema. His parents divorced in 1965 when he was three. He has two sisters, Julie and Jenny, and a half-brother, James. Kiedis lived with his mother in Grand Rapids until he was eleven years old, then moved to Los Angeles with his father, a soon-to-be actor and drug dealer. Kiedis himself has admitted that his use of heroin was influenced by his father who was a drug addict. His father was the person who introduced him to drugs; Anthony would later go on to battle drug abuse in his lifetime.

Kiedis spent much of his youth listening to Sly & the Family Stone, Led Zeppelin, What Is This? (which future bandmate Hillel Slovak was a member of), and Stevie Wonder - artists who would influence the Red Hot Chili Peppers' sound. Around the age of 15, while a student at Fairfax High School, he met future bandmates Michael Balzary (Flea), Hillel Slovak, and Jack Irons. In Scar Tissue, Kiedis discusses his assumed role of a "protector" in school, defending other kids who were outcast or bullied. When he found Flea playfully putting one of his friends in a headlock, Kiedis told Flea to back off. However, when the incident was cleared up, Kiedis and Flea became friends and have stayed so ever since. Also, Kiedis attended UCLA for two semesters before dropping out to form the Red Hot Chili Peppers.[1]

Formation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Main article: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Kiedis went on to study at UCLA, but dropped out after losing interest, partially due to his abuse of hard drugs. This cycle of addiction and recovery in the mid to late '80s was a basis for much of his early lyrics. After dropping out of UCLA, Kiedis had an offer to open for a friend's band, so he got together with friends Flea, Slovak, and Jack Irons. Initially, the group was named Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. Slovak and Irons were in the band Anthym which later changed its name to What Is This? to show a more mature side. Eventually the group would change its name to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band's original line-up consisted of the four friends and led to the band's first studio album, for which Irons and Slovak rejoined the group. After The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hillel Slovak was reunited with Kiedis and Flea. For their next album, Jack Irons rejoined the band but later left after Hillel's drug overdose. Since then, the band has experienced at least twelve different line-ups, releasing nine studio albums in the span of twenty-four years.[1]

Personal troubles

Kiedis often battled with drug addiction, including lengthy addictions to heroin, cocaine and alcohol. He tried to get clean after the heroin overdose death of Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak on June 25, 1988, saying he would never shoot up again. He entered rehab and ended up staying clean for five years but relapsed in 1994 when he had a wisdom tooth removed. The dentist back in Los Angeles felt novacain, a non-narcotic, would do to pull the tooth. However, the tooth ended up having to be cut out, so Kiedis was put under using liquid Valium. This sent Anthony into a relapse. He went in and out of rehab over the next few years, but has reportedly avoided another relapse since December 24, 2000. "It’s easy to be a junkie," Kiedis said in the March, 2007, issue of Blender. "It’s not easy to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time, or one of the greatest writers."[2]

Role in the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Kiedis supplies virtually all of the Chili Peppers' lyrics. Starting with 1989's Mother's Milk album, kiedis has written all of the lyrics for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with bassist Flea and guitarist John Frusicante supplying chords and melodies, which are often derived from the guitar or bass melodies. Kiedis devises the lyrics and melodies during instrumental jams by his band mates; Kiedis said in 2006, "Somehow I find songs . . . in the bigness of what they're doing." His lyrical style has varied over the years. During the band's early years, Kiedis wrote many lyrics involving sex, drugs, and life in Los Angeles. As his musical tastes expanded and his outlook on life changed, he started to write songs about spirituality, struggles in life, and loss of friends, incorporating a larger sense of social realism and thoughtfulness into his lyrics.[1]

His early vocal style with the band primarily consists of rapping, which he could do quickly while keeping a consistent rhythm. Starting as early as Mother's Milk in 1989, Kiedis would write more melodic songs, rather than the basic rhythm and beat style of funk and hip-hop. The first song wherein Kiedis employed his new melodic style was "Knock Me Down". The melody was actually shaped and reformed by guitarist John Frusciante. Upon joining the band, Frusciante sang lead vocals on the song along with Kiedis. Blood Sugar Sex Magik in 1991 still saw Kiedis rapping, but he also started singing more melodic ballads in songs like "Under the Bridge", "Breaking the Girl", and "I Could Have Lied". Over the years, Kiedis grew to favor singing rather than rapping. Kiedis had many vocal coaches, but none of them had helped him sing "well." In fact, it was not until 1999's Californication that he felt he could take full control of his voice while singing.[1]

He has been a key man in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, although the band's biggest commercial success came when John Frusciante joined the band in the Mother's Milk era. Despite the band's varied lineup, Kiedis remained and tried to keep the group together whenever it was about to fall apart. However, Kiedis himself was fired for around a month somewhere in 1986, due to his drug addiction; he was brought back into the band and stayed sober for another two months or so, after which he began shooting cocaine and heroin again.

Lyrical themes and topics

Kiedis' lyrical themes have dealt with a variety of topics, which range from love and the meaning of friendship,[3][4] teenage angst and good-time aggression,[5] sexual fantasies and the link between sex and music, political and social commentary (Native American issues in particular),[6] drugs,[7][8] loneliness,[9] globalization and the negative-side of fame and Hollywood,[10] poverty, alcohol, and dealing with loss.[11].

Other projects

Using the stage name Cole Dammett (adapted from his father's stage name, Blackie Dammett), Kiedis landed a number of small roles in television and film as a teenager in the late 1970s. His early credits include F.I.S.T. and the 1978 after school special It's a Mile from Here to Glory. Resuming his acting work in the 1990s, Kiedis appeared in the 1991 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze vehicle Point Break playing Tone, a surfer. The Chase, a 1994 movie starring Charlie Sheen as an estranged man trying to escape the cops with a young woman he kidnapped, had Flea and Kiedis playing metalheads who chase Sheen's character in a 4x4 truck and end up crashing.

In 2004, Kiedis published a memoir titled Scar Tissue, which peaked at #17 on the New York Times Bestseller List. It is a detailed insight to Kiedis's life from a rebellious child to a rock star.[1]

Personal life

Kiedis's girlfriend, model Heather Christie, gave birth to the couple's first child, Everly Bear, on October 2, 2007. [1] Kiedis previously dated Ione Skye, Sofia Coppola, Sinéad O'Connor, Heidi Klum and Nina Hagen. [2]

Selected Discography

Red Hot Chili Peppers

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Kiedis, Anthony (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Norris, Chris (March 2007). "Anthony Kiedis: The Pursuit of Happiness". Blender Magazine. Retrieved 2007-02-13. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Under the Bridge - Page 264-265
  4. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Breaking the Girl - Page 271
  5. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Police Helicopter - Page 108
  6. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Green Heaven - Page 269-270
  7. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Under the Bridge - Page 265
  8. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Knock Me Down - Page 242
  9. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Scar Tissue - Page 404-405
  10. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Californication - Page 418-419
  11. ^ Kiedis, Anthony; with Larry Sloman (2004). Scar Tissue. London: Time Warner Books. ISBN 0-316-72672-9. Venice Queen - Page 456

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthony Kiedis.
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