Biography Red Hot Chili Peppers

Formed in the wake of the L.A. punk scene, the Red Hot Chili Peppers combined funk and punk with macho, sexed-up lyrics. (One early track was called "Party on Your Pussy"). The result was a high-octane sound that made the quintet alt-rock favorites in the Eighties, then superstars in the Nineties. But as the Chili Peppers aged, their songs became more laid-back and lyrical, and the band went from flesh-baring firecrackers (a 1992 Rolling Stone cover featured them naked) to respected veterans.

After meeting at L.A.'s Fairfax High School, singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, guitarist Hillel Slovak, and drummer Jack Irons formed Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem before changing their name to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They became a popular attraction up and down the L.A. strip, though the early lineup was short-lived as Irons and the Israeli-born Slovak departed to form What Is This? Kiedis and Flea recruited guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez prior to releasing their eponymous debut in 1984. The album stiffed; Slovak returned, and the band took to the road, sometimes appearing onstage wearing only strategically placed tube socks.

The funk-heavy Freaky Styley (1985), the last album featuring Martinez on drums, was produced by P-Funk's George Clinton and featured appearances by funk horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley. The record went largely unnoticed at the time. Irons returned to the band in time for the more rock-oriented The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (Number 148, 1987), which sold better than its predecessor. Any optimism was shattered by the 1988 death of Slovak from a heroin overdose. Disturbed by Slovak's death and Kiedis' own heroin problem, Irons quit the band a second time. An interim band with P-Funk guitarist Blackbyrd McKnight and Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro did not take hold. Kiedis recruited a Chili Peppers fan, guitarist John Frusciante, and auditions brought drummer Chad Smith. This version of the band recorded Mother's Milk (Number 52, 1989). With videos for "Knock Me Down" and a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" on MTV, it looked like the Peppers were about to break through.

The band's lifestyle came under some attack, though, with Kiedis convicted in 1989 of indecent exposure and sexual battery in an incident following a concert in Virginia. The next year during a taping of an MTV Spring Break special in Florida, Flea and Smith jumped offstage, with Flea grabbing a woman and carrying her on his shoulders, and Smith spanking her. The two were charged, and Flea was found guilty of battery, disorderly conduct, and solicitation to commit an unnatural and lascivious act. Smith was found guilty of battery.

The Chili Peppers scored their first major hit in 1991 with BloodSugarSexMagik (Number 3), which featured the single "Under the Bridge" (Number Two) and "Give It Away" (Number 73). Produced by Rick Rubin, the record was written and recorded in a mansion the band claimed was haunted. It sold more than 4 million copies, leading to their headlining Lollapalooza in 1992. Just prior to the tour, John Frusciante left the band and was replaced by Arik Marshall. Marshall lasted only a year and, after many auditions and one false start with Jesse Tobias, was replaced by former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. The 1995 release One Hot Minute (Number Four) went platinum but failed to generate the unparalleled excitement of BloodSugarSexMagik, precipitating a fallow phase in the band's career. Flea joined Navarro for a 1997 reunion tour of Jane's Addiction, and Navarro and Kiedis slipped back into old drug habits. Navarro quit the group in 1998 to pursue solo ambitions, casting the future of the band in doubt.

Instead of breaking up, however, the Chili Peppers invited Frusciante to return, the guitarist having recovered from a severe drug addiction. The subsequent album, Californication (Number Three, 1999), was a commercial and critical triumph. The Chili Peppers were back on top with hit singles "Scar Tissue" (Number Nine) and "Otherside" (Number 14) and a major tour that included a fateful show at Woodstock '99, where the group had the dubious distinction of performing as a fiery melee erupted.

By The Way (Number Two) was released in 2002 and found Frusciante digging into the complexities of multi-tonal, layered guitar tracking. In 2006, the ambitious double album Stadium Arcadium (Number One) was the first Chili Peppers' record to top the charts and earned the band Grammys for Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song ("Dani California," Number Six), Best Rock Performance By a Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Producer (Rick Rubin).

But for the occasional live appearance, the Chili Peppers spent the next two years on hiatus as Frusciante — with the occasional help from Flea — and Smith embarked on solo careers. Frusciante announced in late 2009 that he was leaving the band a second time to focus on other projects. The Chili Peppers' follow-up to Stadium Arcadium is set for release in late 2010.

In July 2011, the band kicked off a trio of invitation-only warm-up dates in California. These were the first shows the band played since August 2007 and their first official shows with Josh as their lead guitarist.

I'm with You, the band's tenth studio album was released in the United States in August 2011. The album topped the charts in 18 different countries although failed to provide the band with their second straight number one debut in the U.S. The album was met with mostly positive reviews from the critics. The album's first single, "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" was released a month earlier and went on to become the band's twelfth number one hit single, topping their own record. Kreayshawn was tapped to direct the music video for the single, however due to unknown reasons, the video shot by Kreayshawn went unreleased and a second video directed by Marc Klasfeld was released in its place. "Monarchy of Roses", "Look Around" and "Did I Let You Know", released only in Brazil, followed as singles/music videos. "Brendan's Death Song" would be the next single and released during the summer of 2012.

The band kicked off a month long promotional tour in August 2011 starting in Asia. On August 30, 2011, the band appeared on movie screens throughout the world via satellite from Cologne, Germany performing the entire new album in sequence, minus "Even You Brutus" and adding "Give It Away" and "Me and My Friends". The band officially kicked off the I'm with You Tour on September 11, 2011, the next day, on September 12, they played in Costa Rica. The tour is expected to last into 2013 and be one of the band's biggest to date. All shows from the upcoming world tour will be made available to purchase as downloads through LiveChiliPeppers.com. The North American leg of the tour, which was expected to begin on January 19, 2012, had to be postponed due to a surgery Kiedis went to resolve multiple foot injuries he had suffered through since the Stadium Arcadium tour. The first U.S. leg of the tour, including dates in Canada, kicked off in March 2012 and lasted into June, followed by summer shows in Europe, while the rest of the already scheduled U.S. dates took place in August and then from September through November 2012. Dates in Guatemala, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Latin America followed in January, February and March 2013.[123]

The band was nominated for two MTV Europe Music Awards awards for Best Rock Band and Best Live Artist and nominated for Best Group at the 2012 People's Choice Awards I'm with You was also nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.

The band released 2011 Live EP on March 29, 2012. The EP a free five live song MP3 download through their website. The five songs were selected by Chad Smith from the band's 2011 European live albums, which were released for purchase through their website as well. May 1, 2012 saw the release of digital download only Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Covers EP, which consisted of previously released studio and live covers of artists, that influenced the band. In addition to their newly released live performances, starting in August 2012, the band has put out a collection of singles from the I'm With You Sessions. The singles, which will contain two songs each and total 17 songs will be available on 7" vinyl, digital download and CD. The last single is expected for release in April 2013.

Jack Irons and Cliff Martinez again joined the band during their August 12, 2012 performance of "Give it Away" in Los Angeles. Two days later during a show in Oakland, Josh suffered a broken foot during their performance which will require him to wear a walking boot. He was provided with a chair onstage at the following night's show, but was able to stand during the entire performance. Chad said that Klinghoffer's injury would not affect any of the band's tour dates and joked that Klinghoffer actually plays better since the injury. They made a concert at Santralistanbul, Istanbul, Turkey on September 8, 2012, there was no alcohol sales at the venue.

The band made Forbes' World's 25 Highest-Paid Musicians for 2012 list placing at number 19 and taking in $39 million for I'm with You and the tour to support it. The tour made $33,911,873 in 2012 which was ranked 15th on Billboard's annual Top 25 Tours list.

During the band's 2011–13 I'm with You tour they saw many historic milestones come and go including the 30th anniversary of the band's formation along with the 10th anniversary of By the Way, 20th anniversary of Blood Sugar Sex Magik and 25th anniversary ofThe Uplift Mofo Party Plan studio albums. Despite these milestones in the band's history, little to no mention of them was made by the band during the tour and no special performances were given on their behalf. While early 90's peers such as Nirvana and Pearl Jamre-released their classic breakthrough albums from that era to celebrate their anniversaries, Blood Sugar Sex Magik received little to no recognition or re-mastered re-release with Kiedis stating that he would rather look forward than backwards.

Eleventh studio album (2013–present)

Chad Smith revealed the I'm with You tour will end in April 2013 and following the tour the band will take a short break before working on their next album, which he expects to start working on in mid-2013. Smith said "We're all re-energized and Josh Klinghoffer is playing better every day and we're more connected as a band now obviously through time and playing." In March 2013, Chad Smith answered a fan on his Twitter page asking about the next album in which Smith replied "we're going to start writing more songs in sept". Following the I'm with You World Tour, the band set out on another small tour consisting mostly of festivals in the United States however the tour expanded to dates in South America as well for November. Flea along with Chili Peppers touring percussionist,Mauro Refosco will spend the band's break keeping busy with their side-project, Atoms For Peace who have many dates throughout the world scheduled from July to November 2013.

On May 11, 2013, the band performed a special concert in Portland, Oregon for the Dalai Lama as part of the Dalai Lama Environmental Summit. According to the press release "The musical element of this event is intended to be a display of joyful celebration and an inspiration to future generations to care for our planet. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been great supporters of the Tibetan cause, of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and of the need to work to protect and preserve our environment."

It was announced on January 10, 2014 that the Chili Peppers would be joining Bruno Mars as performers at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show on February 2, 2014. The Super Bowl halftime show was the most watched in the history of the Super Bowl. A record 115.3 million viewers tuned in which passed the record 114 million who watched Madonna perform two years earlier. The band's performance was met with mixed reviews and heavy criticism from fans, the media and even musicians towards Flea and Klinghoffer for not plugging in their instruments and playing to pre-recorded music. Flea gave a lengthy response through the band's website stating it was a NFL rule for bands to pre-record music due to time and technical issues and that the band heavily weighed their options before committing to the performance ultimately deciding to perform because it would be fun and a once in a lifetime opportunity. He said Kiedis' vocals were completely live and the band pre-recorded "Give it Away" during rehearsals. Bruno Mars' backing band also performed to pre-recorded music but for some reason escaped the negative reaction the Chili Peppers faced. Smith also confirmed that over the past ten years, all musicians who have performed the halftime show have used pre-recorded music.

In a February 7, 2014 interview with fans on reddit, Chad confirmed that the band would begin working on the new album starting the week of February 10, 2014. He also said that the band hopes to one day release a box set of the unreleased songs from the band's 2003 studio sessions which produced songs for their Greatest Hits album and were featured on their Live in Hyde Park album.