Hillel Slovak was an Israeli-American musician, best known as the founding guitarist of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he recorded two albums.
29 Facts About Hillel Slovak
2.
Hillel Slovak is considered to have been a major influence on Red Hot Chili Peppers' early sound.
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Hillel Slovak rejoined the Chili Peppers in 1985 and recorded the albums Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan with them.
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Hillel Slovak attempted to rehabilitate several times but died of an overdose on June 25,1988, at age 26.
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Hillel Slovak was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on April 14,2012, with his brother accepting the award on his behalf.
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Hillel Slovak was born in Haifa, Israel, to Jewish parents who were survivors of the Holocaust.
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Hillel Slovak's mother was originally from Poland while his father grew up in Yugoslavia.
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Hillel Slovak attended Laurel Elementary School in West Hollywood and Bancroft Jr.
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Hillel Slovak received his first guitar at age 13 as a bar mitzvah present, and regularly played the instrument into the late hours of the night.
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Hillel Slovak 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.
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The original bassist for Anthem, which renamed to Anthym, was deemed unsatisfactory, so Hillel Slovak began teaching Flea to play bass.
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The song was based on a guitar riff that Hillel Slovak wrote while "jamming" with Irons, and was not meant to become a real song until Kiedis decided to rap over the music.
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Shortly after the trip, Hillel Slovak moved out of the group's shared house to live with his girlfriend.
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Kiedis felt that Sherman's guitar work "didn't have the same spirit" that Hillel Slovak contributed to the band's sound.
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Hillel Slovak returned to the Chili Peppers for their second album, Freaky Styley, which was released on August 16,1985.
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The band lived in Detroit for a portion of the recording of the album, where Kiedis and Hillel Slovak indulged in heavy cocaine use.
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When Hillel Slovak was under the influence, he would often wear brightly colored clothing and dance in a "shuffling" fashion, which became the inspiration for the song "Skinny Sweaty Man" from the band's next album.
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Hillel Slovak recovered a few days later, but was briefly kicked out of the band and replaced by DeWayne McKnight for a few shows.
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Hillel Slovak is always with me and my love for him only grows stronger with time.
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Hillel Slovak died in his Hollywood apartment on June 25,1988.
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Hillel Slovak is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.
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Hillel Slovak was primarily influenced by hard rock artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and Led Zeppelin.
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Hillel Slovak's playing method was markedly based on improvisation, a style commonly used in funk music.
24.
On Uplift, Hillel Slovak experimented with genres outside of traditional funk music including reggae and speed metal.
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Hillel Slovak used a talk box on songs such as "Green Heaven" and "Funky Crime", in which the sounds of his amplified guitar would be played through a tube into his mouth and then back into a microphone, creating psychedelic, voice-like effects.
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Hillel Slovak helped to incorporate new sounds in the group's work, including adding occasional drum machines.
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Hillel Slovak's work was one of the major contributing factors to Red Hot Chili Peppers' early sound.
28.
When Kiedis and Flea were searching for a new guitarist to replace Hillel Slovak, Kiedis likened the experience to "shopping for a new Mom and Dad" because of his influence over the band.
29.
Hillel Slovak was a huge influence on a young John Frusciante, who would later replace him as guitarist in the band.