Flea (Musician)

Flea has been twice married. He first married his sweetheart Loesha Zeviar in 1988 and had a daughter, Clara Balzary, with her. The marriage, however, hit the rocks just two years later.

He then married, model Frankie Rayder, in 2005. The couple has a son named Sunny Bebop Balzary.

Flea is an avid American soccer fan and is an ardent supporter of Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers. He even performed the National Anthem prior to Lakers games.

Flea was born as Michael Peter Balzary on October 16, 1962, in the Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley, Victoria, Mick Balzary and Patricia. His father was a fisherman.

Right from his childhood, Michael was called Flea due to his inability to sit still. Interestingly, the nickname stayed with him for the rest of his life. When Flea was seven his parents shifted base to Larchmont, New York. In 1971 after his parents separated, Flea remained with his mother.

It was Flea’s stepfather, Walter Abdul Urban, who introduced Flea to music. The first musical instrument that fascinated Flea was a trumpet. He was fond of jazz style of music.

Flea attended Fairfax High School. In the school, he befriended Anthony Kiedis and Hillel Slovak for life. Slovak ignited the love for rock music in Flea and also taught him to play bass. He also included Flea in his band, Anthym, as a bassist. However, Flea soon left it to form an intended one-off band with Slovak, Kiedis and Iron.

Flea’s band Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded nine songs before securing a record deal with EMI. However, Slovak and Iron soon left it to pursue a career with the band ‘What is This?’ Their places were soon filled by Cliff Martinez and Jack Sherman. Except for Flea and Kiedis, members kept changing for each of the band’s album.

In August 1984 the band came up with their debut self-titled album ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’. However, the album failed to impress. The band soon came up with their second album ‘Freaky Styley’, in 1985. It too performed averagely at the charts. They soon followed it with their third album, ‘The Uplift Mofo Party’ which became the most successful of the three albums.

While Red Hot Chili Peppers was still struggling to make a place of its own, its members were embroiled in drug addiction. Slovak’s early death due to heroin overdose left Flea and the other members distressed. Collecting themselves, they soon started working on a new project.

Their fourth album, ‘Mother’s Milk’ was released in early 1989. Though it was panned by critics, commercially, the album was widely appreciated and rose to 52 position on the Billboard 200. Later, it was certified gold.

Ending their contract with EMI, Red Hot Chili Peppers signed a deal with Warner Bros Records. While working on their fifth studio album ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’, Flea’s marijuana addiction augmented massively.

The biggest breakthrough in Flea’s career came in the late 1980s. Though his band Red Hot Chili Peppers were three albums old, they had not struck out big until ‘Mother’s Milk’ their fourth album happened in 1989. Though critically panned, the album went on to become a big commercial hit and was much appreciated and admired by the fans and the audience. Within days of its release, it rose to the number 52 position on the Billboard 200 and later was certified gold.

Red Hot Chili Pepper’s fifth studio album, ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’, was a blockbuster hit. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, selling over seven million copies in U.S alone.