John Anthony Frusciante was born on March 5th, 1970 in New York. John became interested in rock music at an early age. After his parents divorced, John moved to California with his mother at the age of seven. At the age of nine,his step-father offered him his first accoustic guitar.

John taught himself how to play guitar and for the next years he would spent all his time practising. In California, John's interest in music grew and grew as he discovered bands such as The Germs. While at school, it was clear that John was an outsider, mainly because he would rather concentrate on music and that was his life.

Whilst at school he heard many artists that influenced what he played on his guitar such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and others. John became a big fan of a local band called Red Hot Chili Peppers when he was 15 years of age. At this time, original guitarist Hillel Slovak was in the band. At the age of 16, John left school and home to become a full time musician. John had even auditioned to be a guitarist for Frank Zappa but "chickened out" in the last minute.

At a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, John met Hillel Slovak. Over the years, John also met Anthony Kiedis and Flea to which they were in contact regularly.

When Hillel Slovak died of a heroin dose on June 27th, 1988, Red Hot Chili Peppers'drummer at the time, Jack Irons left as he and Slovak were best friends and Slovaks' death was a huge shock to Irons. But Flea and Anthony did not want to quit the band as they knew that it didn't reach its full capability.

Flea had jammed with John many times after Hillel's death and told Anthony that John was right for the Chili Peppers. The instrumental "Pretty Little Ditty" (the riff of 'pretty little ditty' was sampled for Crazy Town's smash hit 'butterfly') that appeared on the album "Mother's Milk" was born through the numerous jams that Flea and John had.

A little while later, John auditioned to be a guitarist for the band Thelonious Monster. As the band were about to offer him the job, Flea jumped in just in time and offered the guitar role to John. John gladly accepted.

Flea and others close to the band recalled that John was extremely like Hillel. Not only in the way he played guitar but the way he stood and moved like him.

In 1989, Mother's Milk, John and new drummer Chad Smith's first album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers peaked at number 59 in the Billboard Charts and with the hit "Higher Ground" originally written by Stevie Wonder.

The Chili Peppers were becoming popular every day while their fan base grew. Years earlier, when John was at a Chili Peppers concert, Hillel asked John "Would you still like the chilis if they got so popular that they played the L.A. forum?". John responded "No, because it would ruin the whole thing."

With the success of the band's 5th album and John's second with the Chili peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), what Hillel said bothered John and he began loathing the popularity of the band. During the Blood Sugar Sex Magik world tour, John's relationship with frontman Anthony Kiedis started falling apart, even though they were once the closest in the band. After a while, they stopped talking. John would retaliate at shows by playing quiet parts loud and loud parts quiet. Flea even recalled that John started playing angrily. He knew John wasn't happy.

At a hotel room in 1992 in Japan, John did not want to play one night. He angrily slammed his arm on a table trying to injure it in some way that would prevent him from playing, but it didn't do any damage. He rang the Chili peppers tour manager and said he wanted to quit the band. After a band meeting, the rest of the Chili Peppers' convinced him to play that night and he did so. After the show, he took a plane home to California with one more date in Japan still to go.

On May 7 1992, John left the Peppers and went home and stayed on the couch for the length of roughly a year.

While the Chili Peppers began the search for yet another guitarist, John became addicted to drugs such as heroin and cocaine. He discovered his love for painting. After his friends Perry Farrell, Steven Perkins, Gibby Haynes, Flea and River Phoenix convinced him to record a solo album because there was "no good music anymore" he completed "Niandra LaDes & Usually Just A T-shit". Warner was to have the rights to the album as there was a 'leaving artist' clause in the Chili Pepper's contract but since John did not want to do any promotion or interviews for the album, they gladly handed over the rights to Rick Rubin's (producer of Blood Sugar Sex Magik) American Recordings. The album didn't shift many units as it was only restricted to the American market. It sold roughly 15,000 copies.

After his friend River Phoenix died in October 1993, John became more depressed. He stopped playing guitar, he stopped painting and became a full time drug addict. He became broke after spending all his money on drugs and was expelled from his house since he wasn't paying the rent for it anymore.

During the years, he moved to different places. If no one had heard from John for a while, some would assume that he was probably dead. He never ate regularly and liked his new body shape which resembeled a stick. Mainly because it looked like David Bowie's during the "Ziggy Stardust" days.

After a suggestion from a friend for another solo album, John agreed to do one to pay for his drug habit. In 1997 "Smile from the Streets you Hold" was released. It sold better then "Niandra LaDes & Usually Just a T-shirt".

In 1999, John took the album off the market because he was ashamed of the motive of the album. He was urged by friends to give rehab another try. This time it was successful. John began playing again and played at the Viper Room on the 20th January 1997, where only a few years earlier, his friend River Phoenix had died. Then in the beginning of 1998, rumours spread that Dave Navarro (John's replacement in the Chili Peppers) was leaving the band.

Flea, who had jammed with John numerous times during this period, proposed him to join the band again. It wasn't until April 1998 that his return within the Chili Peppers bacame official. It made the band and the fans alike happy. He and the rest of the Chili Peppers jammed numerous times and kept composing and practising during the following months. Anthony Kiedis had recovered from his addictions as well and he and John were able to forgive and forget and form a bond once more.

He has since recorded two more albums with the Chili Peppers, Californication (1999) and By The Way (2002) both commercial successes. He also released two more solo albums, "To Record Only Water For Ten Days" (2001) and "Shadows Collide With People" (2004). He will be releasing a new album "Will To Death" on June 22nd on the Record Collection label.
Guitarist (1988-92; 1998-present) for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He left the Chili Peppers in the middle of their tour for "Blood Sugar Sex Magik;" subsequently, he became addicted to heroin and nearly lost the battle. However, he checked into rehab and got clean, rejoining the Chili Peppers in time for "Californication" in 1999. Father works as a judge Made a short film about his house called "Stuff" in 1993 with actor friend Johnny Depp and Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes. The film was shown on Dutch TV directly after an interview special John did for a Dutch TV channel in 1994. It featured slow-motion film of the inside of his house, over-dubbed music and John reading some of his poetry. It also featured a cameo by LSD hero Timothy Leary and "flower-arrangement" (according to the end credits) by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell. He has two brothers, Erik and Michael and two sisters, Anna and Lily. Paints and does yoga. Recorded a song called 'Height Down' with the late actor River Phoenix. His ex-girlfriend was Stella Schnabel, daughter of artist/director Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls), who provided the cover art for By The Way and took some of the promotional photo's. John admitted that he used the funds from his second solo album - Smile from the streets you hold - for drugs, which is why he is ashamed of it. He took the album off the market in 1998 and even has copies of it at home, which he never lets family or friends hear. Attended classes at the Musicians Institute of Technology. In the video of "Scar Tissue" he is driving the car. He doesn't have his licence and doesn't intend to get it. Frusciante is pronounced "Froo-shon-tay" He released an internet album as a gift to his fans. It is available on his official website. It has been called by fans "From the sounds inside", while John never gave the album a name. When asked about "From the Sounds Inside" during an interview, he was confused as to what it was and had to be informed. He appeared on the Mars Volta album "De-loused in the commatorium" on the track "Cicatriz ESP" He will be releasing six new albums on "The Record Collection" label before the end of the year. The first of the six will be called "Will to Death". Is of Italian decent. Once went to an audition for Frank Zappa's band at the age of seventeen, but left before he actually auditioned. He realised he wanted to be in a band where he could 'get girls and do drugs', and knew he wouldn't be able to do that if he was in Zappa's band.