Red Hot Chili Peppers – Biographies
John Frusciante
John Frusciante, by some, the most tallented guitarist on earth today, has experienced ups and life threatening downs, both in his career and his personal life. That might be one of the reasons why he is way different than his bandmates, than anyone for that matter, which makes him very unique and interesting, both as a musician and as a person. He has his own view of the world that surrounds him and is not afraid to speak his mind, even though it always differs from usual. Or, as said in his own words:
John Frusciante was born in New York. Because his father was a pianist, and his mother was a promising vocalist, although gaving up her career so she could stay home and be a good mother, it’s no wonder John became interested in rock music at an early age. After his parents separated he and his mother moved to California when he was seven. Two years later, his stepfather offered him his first acoustic guitar and since then, John never stopped playing and practicing and has to thank his stepfather who really supported me and made me feel good about being an artist. His interest in music grew and grew as he discovered bands such as The Germs, and later Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa… In school, he was an outsider, because music and his guitar were the only things he had interest in. At the age of 16, with the authorization from his parents, he dropped the high school to be a full time musician. With their help he moved to Los Angeles to improve his musical skills, and by that time he could already play all songs from The Germs’ album GL and started creating his own style.
He heard Red Hot Chili Peppers for the first time when he was fifteen, and he instantly fell in love with their music, becoming a huge fan. There was this real kind of historical vibe at their shows, none of the frustration that runs through the audience when they jump around and can’t get out of their seat. I didn’t even watch the shows. I’d get so excited that I’d flip around the slam pit the whole time. I really felt like a part of the band, and all the sensitive people in the audience did too. His attention especially attracted the band’s gutiarist – Hillel Slovak, whome he idolized and thus learned all the guitar and bass parts from Red Hot Chili Peppers first three albums. It was not until he met Hillel Slovak at one of their concerts that his life started changing. He then met Anthony Kiedis and Flea, whome he was jaming with in a few occasions, immediately developing a strong musical chemistry.
After Hillel’s death from heroin overdose, Flea decided to ask John to join them. He gladly accepted, because it was his childhood dream to be playing with them. They recorded Mother’s Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik together – both albums had a huge success, but John didn’t like populairty. He highlighted that in one of his conversation with Hillel who asked him if he would still like the Chilis if they got so popular that they played the L.A. forum, he simply responded, No, because it would ruin the whole thing. At that point, he felt that he should leave the band, which is exactly what he did during their Blood Sugar Sex Magic tour, in Japan. After leaving the band he became addicted to drugs, discovered love for painting and started working on some solo projects. However, after his close friend River Phoenix died he became more depressed – he stopped playing, stopped painting, and did a lot of drugs instead. I was very sad, and I was always happy when I was on drugs; therefore, I should be on drugs all the time. I was never guilty – I was always really proud to be an addict. Frusciante increased his heroin use to abuse, getting into a state of life threatening dependency…
After five years of being an addict, John finally, taking his friends’ advice, checked himself into a rehab center and got off drugs. Once again healthy and fully recovered he began living a more spiritual lifestyle, eating healthy food and practicing yoga, stating: I don’t need to take drugs. I feel so much more high all the time right now because of the type of momentum that a person can get going when you really dedicate yourself to something that you really love. A few months after getting his life back on track, he contacted Flea, who asked him to rejoin Red Hot Chili Peppers, as they just fired their then-current guitarist, Dave Navarro. Feeling the magic chemistry, the band was able to bound once again, stronger than ever before.
John Frusciante is one of the kind, a soulful guitar player that devoted himself to the music and his guitar, which riffs leave everyone breathless. As he likes to say: When the intellectual part of guitar playing overrides the spiritual, you don’t get to extreme heights.
Here are some quick facts I don’t find very interesting or important, but I’m sure there are people wanting to know about:
Name: John Anthony Frusciante
Born: March 5th 1970
Hometown: New York, USA
Martial Status: has a girlfriend
Height: 5′ 8″ or 1.73m
Hair/Eye Color: Hazel/Brown
