Portrait of Flea

Flea

Actors · Musicians · bass guitarist · bassist · pianist · trumpeter

🇦🇺 Australia🇺🇸 United States

Australian musician

About Flea

Michael Peter Balzary (born October 16, 1962), known professionally as Flea, is an Australian and American musician and actor. He is the bassist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, and, alongside vocalist Anthony Kiedis, one of two remaining original members of the band. Flea has also been a member of the supergroups Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Pigface, and Rocket Juice & the Moon, and has played with acts including the Circle Jerks, the Mars Volta, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Alanis Morissette, Young MC, Nirvana, What Is This, Fear, and Jane's Addiction.

Flea's playing incorporates elements of funk (including prominent slap bass), psychedelia, punk, and hard rock. 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.

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, The Wild Thornberrys, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Babylon. He 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.

His debut solo album, Honora, was released on March 27, 2026.

Quick facts

Known for
Honora, Traffic Lights, A Plea
Born
1962-10-16
Artist type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
Melbourne
Associated area
Malibu
Active period
1962-10-16
MusicBrainz description
US bassist
Genres
rock
Music tags
rock
ISNI
0000000114769986
IPI
00141682092, 00141682190

Official & social profiles

External & source links