67 Facts About Anthony Kiedis

1.

Anthony Kiedis is an American singer and songwriter.

2.

Anthony Kiedis is a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

3.

Anthony Kiedis spent his youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his mother, and then moved shortly before his twelfth birthday to live with his father in Hollywood.

4.

Anthony Kiedis has recorded thirteen studio albums with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

5.

Anthony Kiedis struggled with addiction until 2000, and maintains that he has been clean since then.

6.

Anthony Kiedis was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Margaret "Peggy" Nobel and struggling actor John Michael Anthony Kiedis, known professionally as Blackie Dammett.

7.

In 1966, when Anthony Kiedis was three years old, his parents divorced, and he was raised by his mother in Grand Rapids.

8.

Each summer, Anthony Kiedis would visit his father in Hollywood for two weeks, a time during which the two would bond.

9.

Anthony Kiedis's father sold drugs, which had an impact on Anthony Kiedis, as the two would often use marijuana and cocaine together.

10.

Anthony Kiedis accidentally tried heroin for the first time at age 14, mistaking it for cocaine.

11.

Anthony Kiedis landed two more acting jobs, in an ABC Afterschool Special and an appearance in the film Jokes My Folks Never Told Me.

12.

Anthony Kiedis attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, where he struggled to find friends as he had recently transferred to a new school district.

13.

At age 15, Anthony Kiedis met future bandmate Hillel Slovak after seeing him perform with his band Anthym.

14.

Anthony Kiedis understood a lot about music, he was a great visual artist, and he had a sense of self and a calm about him that were just riveting.

15.

In June 1980, Anthony Kiedis graduated with honors from high school.

16.

Shortly after hanging out with the band, and attending a few shows, Anthony Kiedis was offered a position in the band by Flea.

17.

Anthony Kiedis began as a hype man, going out in front of the band blurting out jokes to the audience and getting them pumped up.

18.

Anthony Kiedis rejected the violence and misogyny associated with the Los Angeles punk rock scene at the time, and wished to create a more peaceful environment that would encourage women to come to concerts.

19.

The song was based on a guitar riff that Slovak wrote while "jamming" with Irons, and was not meant to become a real song until Anthony Kiedis decided to rap over the music.

20.

Slovak and Flea were initially skeptical, and felt that Anthony Kiedis did not have enough vocal experience, but the two eventually agreed to perform.

21.

Flea, Slovak and Anthony Kiedis especially were involved in heavy drug use and their relationships became strained.

22.

Anthony Kiedis became dependent on heroin, leaving Flea and Slovak to work on much of the album's material by themselves.

23.

Anthony Kiedis was asked to leave the band in order to undergo drug rehabilitation.

24.

Anthony Kiedis visited his mother in Michigan for guidance, who drove him to drug rehabilitation immediately after picking him up from the airport upon seeing his unhealthy appearance.

25.

Anthony Kiedis checked into a Salvation Army rehabilitation clinic in Grand Rapids, an experience which he initially detested until he noted that the other people in the clinic were understanding of his struggles and were trying to help him.

26.

Anthony Kiedis moved in with his mother after twenty days at the clinic, a time which marked the first time he was completely abstinent from drugs since he was eleven years old.

27.

Anthony Kiedis rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Los Angeles to record the album.

28.

Anthony Kiedis was impressed with Frusciante's skill, and astonished by his knowledge of the Chili Peppers' repertoire.

29.

Anthony Kiedis was ordered to pay a fine on both counts.

30.

Anthony Kiedis was apprehensive because he believed the lyrics to be "too soft" and unlike the band's style.

31.

Months went by, and only small amounts of material were written leading Chad Smith to publicly announce that Anthony Kiedis was suffering from writer's block, though Anthony Kiedis denied this.

32.

Anthony Kiedis was talked into admitting himself to drug rehabilitation in January 1998.

33.

Anthony Kiedis said it was very emotional and the first person he told was his father, who cried when hearing the news.

34.

Anthony Kiedis has been battling through foot injuries since 2006 when he injured his foot onstage and finally was able to have surgery during a break in the band's tour in January 2012.

35.

In November 2014, Anthony Kiedis set out on a mini-book tour to promote the Chili Peppers book, Fandemonium.

36.

Anthony Kiedis received the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, presented at the UCLA Spring Sing on May 16,2015.

37.

On May 14,2016, the band were forced to cancel their headlining slot at the annual KROQ Weenie Roast, as Anthony Kiedis was rushed to the hospital prior to the band appearing on stage.

38.

On October 20,2018, Anthony Kiedis, who was attending the Los Angeles Lakers game with Flea, was ejected from the game for swearing and giving the middle finger to Chris Paul of the Houston Rockets.

39.

On December 20,2021, Anthony Kiedis appeared at Dave Navarro and Billy Morrison's third annual Above Ground benefit concert in Los Angeles where they performed a cover of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side".

40.

Anthony Kiedis organized the New American Music Union, a two-day summer music festival set for August 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

41.

Anthony Kiedis assembled a lineup of musicians including Bob Dylan, The Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, The Roots, and a second stage featuring college bands.

42.

On May 11,2011, Anthony Kiedis donated a MTV European Music Award that the band had previously won to help raise funds for ongoing relief in devastated areas of Japan, which was hit with an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

43.

On January 11,2019, Kiedis co-authored a Rolling Stone opinion piece with Rory Kennedy, a filmmaker and daughter of Robert F Kennedy, and the Malibu Foundation's Trevor Neilson in which he listed the human, financial and environmental cost of global climate conditions.

44.

Anthony Kiedis writes most of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' lyrics.

45.

Anthony Kiedis's lyrics include many of the same themes as the writings of Charles Bukowski, Kiedis' main literary influence.

46.

On Mother's Milk, Anthony Kiedis wrote more melody-driven songs, rather than the basic rhythm and beat style of funk.

47.

The first song where Anthony Kiedis employed his new melodic style was "Knock Me Down".

48.

On October 6,2004, Anthony Kiedis published a memoir, Scar Tissue, which he co-wrote with author Larry Sloman.

49.

Anthony Kiedis was developing a series for HBO based on his unconventional upbringing in Los Angeles.

50.

Anthony Kiedis had partnered with Catapult 360 partners Marc Abrams and Michael Benson to create the series, titled Spider and Son.

51.

Anthony Kiedis' father, Blackie Dammett, was an actor who has appeared in over 50 movies and television shows.

52.

Anthony Kiedis was in a brief relationship with Spice Girls singer Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm, who inspired "Emit Remmus" from 1999's Californication.

53.

Anthony Kiedis's band covered their song "Wannabe" at a 1997 concert in Japan.

54.

Anthony Kiedis was in a relationship with Yohanna Logan on-and-off from 1998 to 2003.

55.

Anthony Kiedis had a two year long relationship with Australian model Helena Vestergaard that ended in late 2014; the end of this relationship inspired much of Anthony Kiedis' lyricism for The Getaway.

56.

Anthony Kiedis acknowledges in his autobiography Scar Tissue that he had intimate relations with a 14-year-old girl when he was 23, before and after learning of her age, in the 1980s.

57.

Anthony Kiedis was in a relationship with Heather Christie from 2004 to 2008.

58.

Anthony Kiedis is a longtime fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Las Vegas Raiders.

59.

Anthony Kiedis has battled drug addiction, including heroin and cocaine, throughout his life.

60.

Anthony Kiedis used drugs for years, including during the formation of the band.

61.

One night, after Anthony Kiedis missed a performance to score drugs, the band replaced him with singer Keith Morris.

62.

Anthony Kiedis tried to get clean after Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose on June 25,1988, saying he would never shoot up again.

63.

Anthony Kiedis entered rehab and ended up staying clean for five years, but he relapsed in 1994, causing a major delay in the release of the band's 1995 album, One Hot Minute.

64.

Anthony Kiedis kept using on and off over the next six years.

65.

Anthony Kiedis has reportedly avoided another relapse since December 24,2000.

66.

However, things turned ugly between the two bands in 1989 when Anthony Kiedis accused Mosley's replacement, Patton, of imitating his style on stage and in their music video for their biggest hit, "Epic".

67.

Anthony Kiedis responded by having them removed from the 2000 Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand.