Anthony Kiedis was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to John Kiedis (also known as Spider or Blackie Dammett) and Margaret "Peggy" Idema, and has two half-sisters, Julie and Jenny and a half-brother, James. His parents divorced in 1968 when he was five. He lived with his mother in Grand Rapids until he was eleven, then moved to California with his father, who was an actor in Los Angeles. His great-grandfather, Anton Kiedis, was Lithuanian, and his father's mother has some Mohican blood. His godfather was Sonny Bono, and Kiedis even went on a skiing trip with his godfather and Cher. [1]
Kiedis spent much of his youth listening to Sly Stone, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Stevie Wonder, artists who would eventually shape the Red Hot Chili Peppers' sound. Around the age of fifteen, while a student at Fairfax High School, he met Michael Balzary and Hillel Slovak, with whom he would eventually go on to form a band. He went on to study at UCLA, but dropped out after losing interest. After dropping out of UCLA, Kiedis began living with his friend Flea and eventually decided to form a band with him, Hillel Slovak, and Jack Irons. Initially, the group was named Tony Flow & The Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. Hillel was in the band Anthym at this time.
According to his autobiography, Kiedis used to adopt the role of a "protector" in school, defending all the kids who were outcast or bullied. When future bandmate Flea was playfully putting Kiedis's friend in a headlock, he told Flea to back off. When the misunderstanding was revealed, they became friends.
According to his memoir, his father introduced him to drugs at the age of twelve. Later in life, he had many struggles with drug addiction, including heroin and cocaine. He tried to get clean after the heroin overdose death of Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak in 1988, saying he would never shoot up again. He entered rehab and ended up staying clean for 5 years, but relapsed after receiving drugs at a dentist's and getting high off of them. He went in and out of rehab and relapsed many times during the next few years. He has purportedly avoided another relapse since December of 2000.
In 2004 Kiedis published a memoir named Scar Tissue, which peaked at number 17 on the New York Times Bestseller List.[1]. It is a detailed insight to Kiedis's life from a rebellious child to a rockstar.
Post je objavljen 04.11.2006. u 12:24 sati.