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| Flea
(Michael Balzary) Biography |
| Michael
Peter Balzary was born on the 16th of October
1962, in
Melbourne
,
Australia
. When he was four, his parents divorced and
Michael, his sister Karen and his mother Patricia
headed for New York, but they didn't stay long and
soon ended up in L.A. (in 1972), where his
step-father, a jazz musician named Walter Urban Jr,
intended to start a career. Flea would often sit
in on weekly jam sessions with his stepdad and the
constant flow of musicians who trucked through.
High school was not always an easy road for young
Michael. He was kind of a misfit because of his
unusual musical taste. While most of the kids were
into disco and dance music, Flea preferred jazz
artists like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.
Flea's first musical instrument were the drums,
but soon he chose the trumpet; after school he
would race home to listen to his Gillespie records
and play along with his idol. He counts as his
greatest childhood memory the time his mother got
him backstage to meet Gillespie after one of his
concerts. He also played with the Los Angeles
Junior Philarmonic Orchestra. Influenced by some
of his friends from school who shared the same
passion for music - among them, Jack Irons and
Hillel Slovak, who would later play in the Red Hot
Chili Peppers with him - his musical interests
then diversified, he discovered funk music, and
Jimi Hendrix became his new idol.
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Flea
the Bass Genius.
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| At
the end of 1977, he met Anthony Kiedis. For
some reason, Michael was holding a young
schoolmate named Tony Sherr in a headlock,
when Kiedis, who was Tony's best friend at
the time, came to rescue him, and the both
almost had a fight, but soon became aware
they were made to be friends, and have been
inseparable since. The two became known for
their mischievous antics, which often got
them into trouble. That's also at this time
that he gained his nickname Flea, while he
was joking with some friends about calling
each other with a cartoon name. Around 1979,
due to Flea's obvious musical talent, he was
sought out as a recruit for a band formed by
his schoolmates, Anthym, with Jack Irons
(drums), Hillel Slovak (guitar) and Alain
Johannes (vocals and guitar) as members.
Flea picked up the bass, which he had never
played before, and became so good that
within a few months he had forged his very
own style, which later would make him one of
the most famous and talented bass players in
the world. After a shaky start the band got
a few club gigs but no major breaks. Anthony
Kiedis was always there to support them, and
became the presenter of their shows, that he
opened with a few jokes or improvised poems
of his own. During the year 1982, Flea
joined the
L.A.
punk band Fear. He also landed a small role
in the Penelope Spheeris film Suburbia
(1984) . John Lydon of PIL asked Flea to
join his band when he left Fear in 1984, but
Flea decided to rejoin his friends instead.
With Kiedis, Slovak and Irons, they had
started another band together, the Red Hot
Chili Peppers, which soon earned a good
reputation in the Los Angeles underground
music scene. Flea was married in 1985 to
Loesha Zeviar, whose first name he got
tattooed above his left nipple - close to
his heart. They have since divorced, but
still share daughter Clara, born on
September 16, 1988. Clara sometimes goes on
theroad with her dad, and has done artwork
for the Chili Peppers' t-shirts and
promotional material. In 2001, along with
friends Pete Weiss and Keith Barry, Flea
founded the Silverlake Conservatory Of
Music, a organization whose aim is to
provide affordable music lessons to everyone
and to encourage children's musical
education |
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Date of Birth:
16 October 1962, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Birthname:
Michael Peter Balzary
Height:
5' 6"
(1.68 m)
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Bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Rode in the ambulance with River Phoenix the night he died.
The nickname Flea comes from a joke he had with some of his high school friends. At some point they decided to call each other with a cartoon name, and finally "Flea" remained as the name by which all of his friends were calling him. His friend from junior high, Keith Barry, who played saxophone with the Red Hot Chili Peppers during the Mother's Milk tour in 1989-90, also got his nickname "Tree" the same way.
Met Peppers pal Anthony Kiedis at Fairfax High School.
When a kid, he played the trumpet and wanted to become a jazz trumpet player.
Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons and him formed a band called Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem (later to become the Red Hot Chili Peppers).
Daughter Clara (with now-ex-wife Loesha), born September 16th, 1988.
Replaced Eric Avery Weiss as Bassist for Jane's Addiction for a reunion tour and four tracks of a subsequent compilation album in 1997.
Played bass in the punk rock band, Fear, from 1982 to 1984.
Co-founder of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a music school located in a rough, artsy neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Firm supporter of art conservatory schools. As stated in a radio interview, he reached out to the public to donate money to these schools due to budget cuts.
He and Kurt Cobain (as well as other members of Nirvana) were bound by a friendly relationship since the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana had been touring together in the early 1990s. He even played the trumpet on "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at one of their shows.
Played bass on the album "De-Loused in the Comatorium" by the Mars Volta.
His first instruments were the drums, then the trumpet, and he didn't play a bass guitar until the age of 17 when his friend, Hillel Slovak, asked him to join his band Anthym and helped him learning how to play the bass. However his step-father was a jazz bass and upright bass player.
Engaged to model Frankie Rayder (January 2005)
Known for his role as Needles in the Back to the Future sequels.
Has a baby daughter, Sunny Bebop Balzary, with fiancee, model Frankie Rayder, born October 26th, 2005.
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