Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Hillel Slovak (April 16, 1962 - June 25, 1988)was the original guitarist for the band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Slovak was born in Haifa, Israel, and moved to California in 1967. In high school he learned to play guitar, and he met Anthony Kiedis and Michael Balzary, whom he taught to play bass guitar. They formed Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, which by 1983 was renamed Red Hot Chili Peppers. Slovak soon developed a heroin addiction, and left the band for his side project What Is This. After returning to the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the albums Freaky Styley and Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Slovak died of a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988. Slovak was replaced as guitarist by John Frusciante, and the songs "Knock Me Down" and "My Lovely Man" from subsequent Chili Peppers albums were dedicated to him. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.