Chad Smith

Just the facts:

Full name: Chad Gaylord Smith

Date of birth/location: 25 October 1962

Minnesota

Wife: Maria (divorced)

Children: Manon St. John Smith (born March 3, 1997) and one other daughter with Maria

He graduated high school from Bloomfield Hill's Lasher High School in 1980. Chad was the last of 30 auditions for the replacement of Jack Irons (who quit when RHCP's original guitarist, Hillel Slovak, died of a drug overdose). Anthony & Flea were exhausted, as none of the applicants were what they wanted. Then Chad walked in, & after playing for a short while, was given the job. Chad & John Frusciante, being 50% of the band, & also new to the Peppers, went into the studio w/Anthony Kiedis & Flea to record Mother's Milk. W/an impressive song list, it spawned their first hits, & they hit mainstream. "Knock Me Down," written by Anthony, & dedicated to his memory of Hillel, became their first hit & "Higher Ground," a Stevie Wonder cover, propelled the album even higher on the charts. The Peppers went on an extensive tour to support their album, & made their 4th album, Mother's Milk, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' first gold album. As they moved along w/their career, they stayed @ the Rodolfo Valentino mansion outside of Los Angeles to record the follow up album to Mother's Milk.

BloodSugarSexMagik was recorded throughout May & June of 1991 in the huge house which has been owned throughout its many years by such big names as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin & the Beatles. Rumored to be haunted, Chad went home every night to sleep while the rest of the band stayed @ the house. You can watch Flea tease Chad about going home on the video Funky Monks. The album was released later that year, & w/the singles "Give It Away," "Breaking the Girl," & finally, "Under the Bridge," BloodSugarSexMagik became the smash hit that the band deserved. Selling over 8 million copies in its first year of release, no one could get enough of the Chili Peppers. Their tour was sold out around the world, & "Under the Bridge" was being played constantly on the radio. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were the "it" band. Even making an appearance on "The Simpsons." But not everyone was enjoying the success. The then 21 year old John Frusciante, being eight years younger than everyone else in the band, was becoming increasingly disenchanted w/being famous. While the others had been in & out of bands throughout their lives & for many years, John had suddenly been thrust into the limelight, & he wasn't quite ready for it. He quit before RHCP was scheduled to headline Lollapolooza & Woodstock '94.

Anthony, Flea, & Chad struggled to find a replacement guitarist to replace John for the remainder of the tour. Going through several, including Arik Marshall, they finally decided on former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. They played Woodstock w/Dave on guitar & retreated to Hawaii to write One Hot Minute. As One Hot Minute was released and was highly successful by most bands' standards, it still was nothing compared to the success of BloodSugarSexMagik. Quickly falling down the charts, it's singles "Aeroplane," "Warped," & "My Friends" didn't fair nearly as well as the trio from their previous album, either. The band was rumored to have broken up after a period of silence following a rather short tour. Anthony was in a horrible motorcycle accident. As he began to recover, Chad then was in one, but he was much luckier than Anthony as far as injuries.

Around this time, Chad met Maria, who became his wife & whom he had two daughters with. Sometime between then & the making of Californication, though, sadly, the couple divorced. In early 1996, more rumors spread that the band had broken up, & no one was denying the rumors. But the guys were just have a bit of down time. Anthony was back on drugs throughout 1996 & possibly early 1997. It didn't look good for the Peppers until Flea talked to John about returning to the Peppers. John had been a heavy drug user since leaving the band, & the heroin had almost killed him. Excited about making a change in his life, John was thrilled about the idea.

In early 1998, rumors were circulating that Dave Navarro was gone for good. Rumors were also circulating that John Frusciante was back for good. Red Hot Chili Peppers around the globe rejoiced @ the mere thought of the "classic" lineup being once more, & sure enough, not long after the rumors began, they were confirmed. John was back & work had began on a new Chili Pepper album w/the working title of Californication. A single entitled "Scar Tissue" was the first anyone had heard of the Peppers in a long time. & it sounded very good. Californication was released in June of 1999. It has been a very successful album, getting rave reviews from usually harsh critics, & selling very quickly.