Happy Birthday Flea
Michael Peter Balzary was born October 16, 1962 in Melbourne, Australia. Australia!? WTF! How is Flea Australian!? His Father, Angus Balzary was first cousins with Actor Paul Hogan, who starred in many films as “Crocodile Dundee”. Yes put a shrimp on the barbee and all that.
Little Mike’s parents got divorced, his mother remarried a Jazz musician and they moved to Los Angeles, California. Flea’s stepfather frequently invited musicians to his house for jam sessions. Flea became fascinated by the trumpet and flugelhorn.He had no interest in rock music at the time; he idolized jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie.His stepfather was an aggressive alcoholic, who eventually became involved in shoot-outs with police.
Mike became friends with Anthony Kiedis & Hillel Slovak who turned him onto the Bass, Punk Rock & Funk music. Mike got the nickname “Flea” after coming down with a serious case of Scabies. “You could see them jumping off of him” said Kiedis, “He was a filthy little kid, he looked like pigpen from Charlie Brown with a dust cloud, fleas and scabies surrounding him. But I loved him.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers released 3 albums in the 80’s that went no where, had a lot of issues with drugs and band members coming and going. In 1989 John Frusciante and Chad Smith joined the band and they released “Mother’s Milk” to some commercial success. “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, “One Hot Minute”, International success and a lot of songs about California followed. They still had a problem keeping guitarists.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers mixed Funk, Punk, Rock and Rap, overcame drug issues, liked to get naked and made some great music. Flea is considered by many to be one of the greatest, most aggressive rock bassists of all time. He is also an actor that appeared in over 50 films and appearances including the voice of Donnie Thornberry on the animated classic, The Wild Thornberrys. Happy Birthday Flea!
