Hillel Slovak (1962-1988)

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Hillel Slovak (1962-1988)

Hillel Slovak was born April 13th, 1962 in Haifa, Israel and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1967 at the age of 5. He is best known for being the original guitarist and founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He met his future band mates while they were all in high school in Los Angeles, California and played various shows around the city. During his time as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers he developed an addiction to heroin. He attempted to quit many times, but always ended up relapsing. 

Accomplishments:
Slovak recorded two albums with the band, Freaky Styley (1985) and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987). His guitar work was primarily rooted in funk and hard rock, although he often experimented with other genres including reggae and speed metal. He is considered to have been a major influence on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' early sound. When Kiedis and Flea were searching for a new guitarist to replace Slovak, Kiedis likened the experience to "shopping for a new Mom and Dad" because of his influence over the band. Flea, who originally listened exclusively to jazz, added that Slovak introduced him to a new genre of music, saying that "it was Hillel who first got me into hard rockin'". He was also a huge influence on a young John Frusciante, who would later replace him as guitarist in the band. Frusciante based a lot of his playing style on Slovak's work, and explained, "I learned everything I needed to know about how to sound good with Flea by studying Hillel's playing and I just took it sideways from there."Just like Slovak before him, Frusciante developed a heroin addiction. Unlike Slovak, Frusciante eventually managed to break and defeat the habit. The songs "Knock Me Down" (from Mother's Milk), "My Lovely Man" (from Blood Sugar Sex Magik), "This is the Place" (from By the Way), and "Feasting on the Flowers" (from The Getaway) were written about or as tributes to Slovak. The band's 1987 cover version of Jimi Hendrix's song "Fire", recorded with Slovak and previously only released on the "Fight Like a Brave" single and The Abbey Road EP, was included on 1989's Mother's Milk along with an image of one of Slovak's paintings inside the album's booklet. In 1999, a book titled Behind the Sun: The Diary and Art of Hillel Slovak was published. The book was authored by Slovak's brother, James Slovak, and features writings from his brother's diaries, paintings, photos and hand-written notes from Kiedis and Flea.

On December 7, 2011, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were announced as 2012 inductees to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Slovak's brother James accepted the award on his behalf and gave a speech honoring his brother. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kiedis expressed his excitement with Slovak's induction, explaining "He's a beautiful person that picked up a guitar in the 1970s and didn't make it out of the 1980s, and he is getting honored for his beauty". Flea echoed those comments on the same day: "Hillel grew up loving rock and roll so much, he hasn't been here for some time, but I know how much it would mean to him. It's a powerful thing."


Charities:
Children’s Hospitals

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