Flea, Australian-American bass player, songwriter, and actor
Michael Peter Balzary (born 16 October 1962), known professionally as Flea, is an Australian-born American musician and actor. He is a founding member and bassist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Flea was born in Melbourne, Victoria; his family moved to Rye, New York, when he was four. After his parents divorced, Flea spent his childhood in America and Australia, before settling in California. At high school, he befriended singer Anthony Kiedis, with whom he formed the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Flea is also member of the supergroups Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Pigface and Rocket Juice & the Moon, and has played with acts including the Mars Volta, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Alanis Morissette, Young MC, Nirvana, What Is This?, Fear and Jane's Addiction.
Flea incorporates elements of funk (including slap bass), psychedelic, punk, and hard rock in his playing. In 2009, Rolling Stone readers ranked Flea the second-best bassist of all time, behind John Entwistle. In 2012, he and the other members of Red Hot Chili Peppers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since 1984, Flea has acted in films and television series such as Suburbia, Back to the Future Part II and Part III, My Own Private Idaho, The Chase, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Dudes, Son in Law, The Big Lebowski, Low Down, Baby Driver, Boy Erased and The Wild Thornberrys.
Flea is the co-founder of Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a non-profit organization founded in 2001 for underprivileged children. In 2019, he published a memoir of his early life, Acid for the Children.