Singer and musician Anthony Kiedis was born on November 1, 1962, and this is a good opportunity to share some interesting facts about him:
(Photo: altpress.com)
1. Kiedis was born in Michigan on November 1, 1962, to "Margaret" Peggy and John Michael Kiedis, a stage actor Blackie Dammett.
2. Kiedis' godfather was none other than Sonny Bono from the Sonny & Cher duo. Sony was friends with his father and rumor has it that Sher used to babysit him.
3. Kiedis told in his autobiography "Scar Tissue" that he also saw the babysitter naked on one of the occasions she babysat him.
4. When he was only 3 years old his parents divorced and Kiedis moved in with his mother.
5. At the age of 12 he moved to California with his father whom he admired.
6. During high school he met Flea, his bandmate to Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were both exceptional and outgoing and the common denominator brought them closer together and made them best friends.
7. At the same Fairfax High School in Hollywood, Jack Irons and Hillel Slovak also studied, the future members of "Chili Peppers".
8. In their youth, Flea and Kiedis used to jump from buildings to swimming pools. In one case, Kiedis jumped back from a 5-story building and broke his back.
9. Kiedis' father is the one who introduced him to marijuana and cocaine. At the same time as his father's failed playing career, he was selling drugs, when already at the age of 14 Kiedis accidentally tried heroin after thinking it was cocaine.
10. Kiedis' father was a very "educational" character, he also made sure that his 18-year-old girlfriend "redeemed" Kiedis from his virginity just before Kiedis turned 12.
(Photo: NME)
11. Kiedis also received a good musical education from his father who used to take him to shows at clubs in Los Angeles where he saw, among others, Blondie and the Ramones in the 1970s.
12. After one of Blondie's live shows in 1977, Kiedis proposed to Debbie Harry. Debbie confirmed this in an interview from 2008 and noted that she remembers the case well and that she has politely declined Kiedis who seemed like an 8-year-old (he was then 15 years old).
13. Although he made heavy use of drugs during his high school years, Kiedis was a brilliant student who graduated high school with honors.
(Photo: NME)
14. Not long after Kiedis moved in with his father in Los Angeles, his father took him on a "business" trip to Wisconsin where his father sold drugs. When they returned to Los Angeles the father hid $ 30,000 on Kiedis' body because he thought no one would search for a child.
15. Kiedis' acting career began at age 16 when in 1978 he starred in the film "F.I.S.T." As the son of Sylvester Stallone. He did so under the stage name Cole Dammett following the stage name of his father Blackie Dammett.
16. During his career he used many other nicknames like Tony Flow which he adopted during his first appearance with Flea, Slovak and Irons, Antoine (Antwan) The Swan, and Sir Psycho Sexy (as the song is named from the album "Blood Sex Sugar Magik").
17. Kiedis will later star in other films and the best known of them is probably "Breakthrough Point" from 1991, alongside Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
18. Kiedis' father keeps a wolf as a pet. He called it Howlin 'Wolf.
19. In 1983 he formed with Tony, Flea, Irons, and Slovak the band Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem.
20. The band had one song (Out in L.A.) and was formed following a one-time offer that Kiedis received from his friend Mike Chester to be his band's opening show at the Rhythm Lounge Club in Los Angeles.
21. The reviews from the show were so good that the club owner invited them to play there again a week later and even went on to more shows, not before changing the band name to Red Hot Chili Peppers.
22. Kiedis named his son Everly Bear after the "Everly Brothers".
23. Kiedis recounted in his autobiography "Scar Tissue" that in 1984 while under the influence of drugs, he smashed his mother's car straight into a tree, but miraculously survived.
24. In 2008, Kiedis was voted the sexiest "vegetarian" in the world by PETA.
25. Kiedis is a very spiritual type, he practices Vipassana and learns Kabbalah.
26. After a performance in Virginia in 1989 Kiedis was charged with public undressing and sexual assault, after harassing a fan during the performance.
27. The songs "Desecration Smile" and "She's Only 18" were written by Kiedis about his relationship with model Heather Christie.
28. The song "Venice Queen" was written by Kiedis about Gloria Scott a consultant who helped him deal with a drug problem and died of cancer.
29. He dedicated the song "Dani California" to all the women in his life.
30. Rumor has it that the song "Emit Remus" was written by Kiedis about Mel C with whom Kiedis was in a relationship at the time.
31. The rumor also says that Kiedis also went out with Sinead O’Connor and the song “I Could Have Lied” was probably written about her, although Sinead did deny that the two ever went out.
32. Kiedis, Flea and John Frusciante are ardent L.A Lakers fan.
33. Despite his intense love and admiration for Hillel Slovak he was not present at his funeral. Some say the event was too difficult for him, but there is a version that says Hillel's mother accused Kiedis of dragging Hillel to drugs and therefore told him he was not wanted at the funeral.
34. In the song "This Is The Place" from the album "By The Way" from 2002, he explicitly refers to the day of Slovak's death and the issue of drugs.
35. Following the dizzying success of the album "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", the "Chili Peppers" embarked on a worldwide tour. After performing in Australia and New Zealand, the band members returned home and Kiedis made a month-long trek in the isolated forests of Borneo.
(Photo: Shannon Stapleton)
36. This trek is badly remembered because he, among other things, contracted wax fever and experienced severe headaches as early as his first night in the woods after a type of cockroach entered his ear canal.
37. In 1992 he appeared with Flea in the music video for the song "Wicked" by Ice Cube.
38. Kiedis has a long-standing rivalry with singer Mike Patton of Faith No More and "Mr. Bungle". This rivalry began immediately with Patton joining FNM and is based on Kiedis' claim that Patton is imitating him on stage.
39. The rivalry created ridiculous situations like the fact that "Mr. Bungle" was forced by the record company to postpone the release of the album "California" which was supposed to be released on the same day as the Chili Peppers' "Californication" album, just because the names were similar.
40. In response, During a 1999 Halloween performance, Mr. Bungle performed the songs "Give It Away", "Around the World", "Under the Bridge" and "Scar Tissue" in a satirical, insulting, and disparaging manner.