Flea (born Michael Peter Balzary on October 16, 1962 in Burwood, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia) is the bassist for the alternative funk band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Flea is considered to be one of the most talented bassists in the rock and roll scene.
In March 1967, Michael's father, Mick, who worked as a Customs officer, was posted to New York, and the whole family moved to the United States. Around 1971, Michael's parents divorced, and his mother moved with him and his sister Karen to Los Angeles in 1972, to live with a jazzman named Walter Urban Jr, that she would soon marry.
Flea got his start in music very early. He first tried the drums, and at age nine started playing the trumpet. After only a couple of years he had become proficient enough to enter the Los Angeles Junior Philarmonic Orchestra, and he also played in his Junior High School's orchestra. Balzary confessed to VH1's Behind The Music, that he originally had no interest in rock and roll and sought to become a jazz musician like his stepfather, but changed musical direction after being introduced to the music of KISS, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin by future bandmate Hillel Slovak.
He met bandmate Anthony Kiedis while at Fairfax High School, and started to play the bass around age 17, when he was recuited to play for Anthym, a band formed by his Junior High school friends Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons and Alain Johannes, to replace their current bassist who they believed was substandard. In 1981, he left Anthym, searching for new musical experiences. He then joined Fear, an aggressive and wild band from the LA punk scene. In 1983, he, Kiedis, Slovak and Irons went on to form Red Hot Chili Peppers together. They got a record deal with a major label in 6 months, and Flea then left Fear to concentrate on the Chili Peppers. At the time he even turned down an offer by his longtime idol John Lydon / Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols fame to join Lydon's new band Public Image Ltd., because he preferred to stay with his friends in the Peppers.