Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band from Los Angeles, active since 1983. Their line-up has changed several times over the years, and the group is associated with Anthony Kiedis on vocals, Flea on bass, John Frusciante on guitar and Chad Smith on drums, among others including Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons, Jack Sherman, Cliff Martinez, DeWayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight, D.H. Peligro, Arik Marshall, Dave Navarro, Jesse Tobias and Josh Klinghoffer.

The band forms in Los Angeles in the early 1980s around Kiedis, Flea, Slovak and Irons. Their debut album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984), does not feature Slovak and Irons, and instead includes Jack Sherman and Cliff Martinez. Slovak returns for Freaky Styley (1985) and Irons for The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987), before Irons leaves after Slovak’s death in 1988. Frusciante and Smith then join, and the band releases Mother’s Milk (1989) and their first major commercial breakthrough, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991).

Frusciante leaves during the 1992 tour, and the band later records One Hot Minute (1995) with Dave Navarro. After further line-up changes, Frusciante returns in 1998 and the group releases Californication (1999), which becomes their most commercially successful album and sells over 16 million copies worldwide. By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006) also achieve major success, with Stadium Arcadium reaching number one on the Billboard 200. Frusciante leaves again in 2009, Josh Klinghoffer replaces him and appears on I’m with You (2011) and The Getaway (2016), and Frusciante later returns in 2019. In 2022 the band releases Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen.

The group’s music combines alternative rock, funk, punk rock, hard rock, hip hop and psychedelic rock, and it is also linked with funk metal, rap metal, rap rock and nu metal. Their recorded output totals over 120 million copies sold worldwide. The band holds the record for the most number-one singles on the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart, with 15, as well as the most cumulative weeks at number one, with 91, and the most top-ten songs, with 28. It wins three Grammy Awards, is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, and receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2022.

The band is credited to EMI Records USA and Warner Bros. Records Inc.