Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Kiedis spent his youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan , with his mother, and then moved shortly before his twelfth birthday to live with his father in Hollywood. When Kiedis received an offer to be the opening act for a local band, he enlisted Flea, Slovak, and drummer Jack Irons. He has recorded thirteen studio albums with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis's lyrical style has evolved throughout his career; early recordings discussed topics such as sex and life in Los Angeles, while more recent songs focus on more reflective themes including love, addiction, and loss.
He struggled with addiction until , and maintains that he has been clean since then. In , Kiedis wrote that his paternal grandmother, Molly VanderVeen, "was a pastiche of English, Irish, French, and Dutch and, as we've recently discovered, some Mohican blood ". His mother later remarried and had two more children. Kiedis idolized his father, recalling: "Those trips to California were the happiest, most carefree, the-world-is-a-beautiful-oyster times I'd ever experienced.
Kiedis's father sold drugs, and the two often used marijuana and cocaine together. Kiedis attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles , where he struggled to find friends, but he met his future bandmate Flea.
The two had a brief confrontation, but then became best friends and bonded while sitting next to each other in driver's education class. We were both social outcasts. We found each other and it turned out to be the longest-lasting friendship of my life.
At age 15, Kiedis met future bandmate Hillel Slovak after seeing him perform with his band Anthym. After the show, Slovak invited Kiedis to his house for a snack.
