Chili Peppers' guitarist's struggle

The multi-talented John Frusciante is best known for his work as the longtime, long-haired guitar hero of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but his true creative nature often gets overshadowed by his freaky-funk counterparts.

Frusciante's solo career is one of the music world's hidden gems, waiting to be discovered by the unsuspecting ear. Together with five Chili Peppers albums under his belt, Frusciante released nine LPs and one EP as a solo artist, two albums with his collaborative effort Ataxia, and has contributed guitar work on three albums by experimental prog-rockers, The Mars Volta.

Frusciante joined the Chili Peppers in 1989 and appeared on the band's album "Mother's Milk" the same year, soon becoming overwhelmed by the instant rock star status they received after 1991's breakthrough, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik."

Struggling to cope with the band's sudden popularity, Frusciante grew bitter and continued to smoke copious amounts of marijuana as he had with the band during their eerie recording sessions for "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" in an old Hollywood Hills mansion, but soon found heroin, which quickly became his new little joy.

He returned home to California the following summer and amidst a full-blown heroin addiction, felt his life was over and couldn't write music or play guitar. To battle his depression, he upped his heroin intake in order to "medicate" himself, claiming, "I was very sad, and I was always happy when I was on drugs; therefore I should be on drugs all the time. I was never guilty-I was always really proud to be an addict."

His first solo album, "Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt," was released in the spring of 1994, containing lo-fi, strung-out recordings filled with strange feedback, reverse playback guitars and some of the least desirable vocals Frusciante has recorded.

Over the next three years, Frusciante would slip further into addiction, nearly dying from a blood infection. His arms were left in permanent abscesses and hideously scarred from poorly shooting heroin and cocaine while he lived as a recluse in his deteriorating, graffiti-covered Hollywood Hills home. His house eventually burned to the ground, destroying Frusciante's vintage guitar collection and seriously burning his already-suffering arms.

In 1997, before the end of his near-life-claiming addiction, Frusciante released his second solo album, "Smile from the Streets You Hold," another lo-fi, grainy endeavor filled with screeching, gloomy lyrics and the occasional cough, only to be taken off the shelves in 1999 when he admitted he released the album for "drug money."

Late in 1997, Frusciante quit heroin cold turkey and entered rehab in Pasadena for a full recovery, where he was diagnosed with a potentially lethal oral infection, causing all of his teeth to be removed and replaced with dentures, as well as skin grafts on his arms to repair their decaying state.

After a month or so of rehab, Frusciante reemerged as a completely different human. He stopped eating processed foods, regularly practiced yoga and abstained from sexual activity to begin a complete dedication and focus on his music.

"It's such a beautiful thing to be able to face life, to face yourself, without hiding behind drugs, without having to have anger towards people who love you. There are people who are scared of losing stuff, but you don't lose anything for any other reason than if you just give up on yourself," Frusciante said after his recovery.

So in 1998, with the Chili Peppers on the verge of collapse, bassist Flea and singer Anthony Kiedis visited a stable Frusciante and invited him to rejoin the band. Frusciante began sobbing and said, "Nothing would make me happier in the world."

Then, in 1999, the reunited Chili Peppers released one of their most acclaimed albums to date, "Californication," showcasing some of the previously unknown depths of Frusciante's vocal harmonies and guitar work.

Frusciante released his third solo album in 2001, the electronic, loud-guitar driven, "To Record Only Water for Ten Days," and a year later, his fourth album with the Chili Peppers, "By the Way," which gave the guitarist the chance to "keep writing better songs."

It is this period which birthed some of Frusciante's most talented work his career has seen thus far. He began working on his fourth solo album during the "By the Way" tour, and released probably his most impressive, best recorded work in 2004 with "Shadows Collide With People."

"Shadows" showcases every element of Frusciante's creativity and talent to the fullest potential. Where he previously allowed sound imperfections in his earlier recordings (off-pitch vocals, out-of-tune guitars), "Shadows" proves quite the opposite.

"I just wanted everything to be perfect-I didn't want anything off pitch, or off time, or any unintentional this or that," Frusciante said of the album.

And perfect it is-often sounding heavenly and triumphant, Shadows shows off Frusciante's guitar mastery of melody and emotion with a sound and style unique only to him. Frusciante's song writing and vocals matured with the record and are focused and real, ranging from growling wails to his trademark, falsetto harmonies so recognizable in nearly every Chili Peppers song.

After receiving moderate mainstream success with "Shadows," Frusciante announced in June 2004 he would be releasing six albums over the span of six months. He did just that, ambitiously releasing respectively, "The Will to Death," Ataxia's "Automatic Writing," "DC E.P.," the hard-rocking "Inside of Emptiness," the electronic "A Sphere in the Heart of Silence" and the acoustic-laden "Curtains."

All of his solo releases are comparable to a family of children-all being very unique and different from one another, all the while keeping the same Frusciante roots, sharing the same troubled-yet-triumphant history.

Since his rapid-fire release of solo works in the middle of the decade, Frusciante has remained busy, releasing the chart-topping double disc with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2006, "Stadium Arcadium," shining on his prominent backup vocals and Hendrix-influenced guitar work. Frusciante also collaborated with friend, brainchild of The Mars Volta, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, contributing vocals and guitar parts for three of the band's albums.

While Frusciante fans have been patiently waiting, desperately craving their next fix of the music magician's solo work, Kiedis provided hope this summer. The Chili Peppers frontman said due to continuous work since "Californication," the band will be taking a hiatus for at least a year, but confirmed that the resilient guitarist is diligently working on multiple solo projects.

With over a decade and a half of influential and important musicianship, be it drug-addled, reborn, via guitar, vocals, in a huge rock band or by himself, John Frusciante has staked his claim in rock history, donning a shiny new crown.