John Frusciante was born in Queens, New York on March 5, 1970. Both his parents were musicians, his dad being a pianist and his mother was a vocalist. Eventually Frusciante moved to Mar Vista, Los Angeles with his mother. Frusciante began studying guitarists like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix at the age of eleven. He later dropped out of high school to pursue a full time interest in the guitar. This was with the approval of his mother.

Frusciante became very interested in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, learning and memorizing all of their guitar parts. Frusciante had been an avid fan of the Chili Peppers for a long time and looked to take the chance. He was introduced to the band by a friend and was invited for an audition. His audition was flawless as he and Flea jammed for a long while. This find will prove to be one of the greatest things that could happen to the band. At 18 years old, Frusciante produced a great album filled with many great guitar riffs in the album Mother’s Milk. It is said by many that the Chili Peppers were not and would not have made it big without the help of John Frusciante. Both Mother’s Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik were big successes mostly due to the help of Frusciante great guitar riffs.
Unfortunately in 1992 John became very uncomfortable with the extreme attention the band was getting and quit the band. He stated that this was because his desire to say away from fame. Sadly after this, John became heavily addicted to heroin, as well as many other drugs. It was this addiction that nearly killed him. He was so desperate for drug money that he produced his first two solo albums, Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-shirt, and Smile From the Streets You Hold, in order to sell them to get more drug money. Now, John is not proud of these times.  To this day, John refuses to market these albums that were created for such a poor reason.

Eventually John was rescued by Flea and placed into a treatment facility. It is said that John was close to death if he stayed on the track that he had been on. John’s revamped attitude and guitar playing really helped the Red Hot Chili Peppers develop some new and great sounds. Mainly because of this, Californication was a huge success. It was his more group focused mentality that helped the Red Hot Chili Peppers become extremely famous with their next three albums.

In addition, John has an extensive solo career for someone who is fully committed to a very famous band. In 2001 he released his third album, To Record Only Water for Ten Days. Frusciante released his fourth full-length solo album Shadows Collide with People on February 24, 2004. In June 2004, Frusciante announced that he would be releasing six records over the span of six months: The Will to Death, Ataxia's Automatic Writing, DC - EP, Inside of Emptiness, A Sphere in the Heart of Silence and Curtains. With the release of Curtains Frusciante debuted his only music video of 2004, for the track "The Past Recedes". He wanted to produce these records quickly and inexpensively, avoiding modern studio and computer-assisted recording processes.