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Anthony Kiedis

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File:Anthony2006.jpg
A promotional picture of Anthony Kiedis

Anthony Joseph Kiedis (born November 1, 1962) is the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He and bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary founded the California-based funk rock group in 1983. It has become immensely popular, their records regularly topping world charts. Kiedis writes most of the lyrics for the group's songs. Kiedis was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to John Kiedis (a.k.a. Spider or Blackie Dammet) and Margaret "Peggy" Idema, and has two half-sisters, Julie and Jenny, and a half-brother, James. His great grandfather, Anton Kiedis, was Lithuanian, and his father's mother has some Mohican Blood. 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 a drug dealer in Los Angeles.

Around the age of fifteen, while a student at Fairfax High School, he met Michael Balzary and Hillel Slovak, and would eventually go on to form a band with them. Initially, the group was named Tony Flow & The Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, and they would go on to become part of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

His father introduced him to drugs at the age of eleven, and Kiedis has had many struggles with drug addiction, including heroin and cocaine. He initially forced himself to get clean after the heroin overdose death of former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak in 1988 for five years, but relapsed several times. December 24th, 2000 he became clean again, and reportedly he has avoided another relapse.

Kiedis appeared as an actor in the 1991 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze vehicle Point Break playing Tone, the surfer, and also featured in The Chase in 1994 playing Will (alongside bandmate Flea). The Chase (1994), a 1994 movie featuring Charlie Sheen as an estranged man trying to escape the cops with a young woman he kidnapped, had Flea and Anthony Kiedis play two metalheads in a big 4x4 who try to stop Sheen's red sportscar and end up crashing like imbeciles. His earlier acting work saw him adopting the stage name "Cole Dammett" (after his father's nickname) and starring as Sylvester Stallone's son in the film F.I.S.T.

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' life from a rebellious child to a rockstar.

Kiedis and his band released their most recent album entitled Stadium Arcadium on May 9, 2006. The first single from the album, "Dani California", was released on May 2, 2006.


Trivia

File:Anthonylivr2006.jpg
A picture of Kiedis performing live
  • Kiedis is 5'9" in height.[2]
  • He has 10 tattoos
  • Kiedis lost his virginity at age 12 after asking his Father if he could have sex with his (his father's) girlfriend
  • At a very young age Kiedis knew he wanted to be a singer, though didn't pursue that dream for many years before forming the Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • He dated many famous women: actresses Ione Skye and Demi Moore, director Sofia Coppola, model Jaime Rishar and Heidi Klum, singer Sinead O'Connor and fashion designer Yohanna Logan.
  • He met the Dalai Lama during a trip in India at the end of 1996.
  • While actually only part Native American, Kiedis has exhibited strong interest in that heritage, showcasing it in the tribal tattoo with the devil's face covering his upper back, and he has used it as lyrical inspiration in songs such as True Men Don't Kill Coyotes, Fight Like A Brave, American Ghost Dance, Apache Rose Peacock, and Johnny, Kick A Hole In The Sky
  • Since the death of his dog Buster, Kiedis has acquired a pair of Rhodesian Ridgebacks, named Katie and Sammi, according to an interview in the May 2006 issue of Q magazine
  • He studies Kabbalah. [3]
  • He is also known as Cole Dammet and Antoin the Swan.
  • His godfather was Sonny Bono.
  • According to his autobiography, he used to adopt the role of a "protector" in school, defending all the kids who were outcasted or bullied. When future bandmate Flea was playfully putting Kiedis's friend in a headlock, he told Flea to back off. Ever since he found out Flea was not serious, they were inseperable.
  • Mr Bungle and The Red Hot Chili Peppers are not on good terms, they have put down each other and Mr.Bungle frequently perfroms covers of famous RHCP songs (with bad intent)
  • Having accused Faith No More's Mike Patton of apeing his style, Kiedis threatened to pull the Chilis from a number of festivals if Patton's Mr Bungle weren't booted from the lineup.

See also


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