Hillel was born in Haifa, Israel and his family moved to America when Hillel was four. His parents were Holocaust survivors of Polish-Jewish (mother) and Yugoslavian-Jewish (father) descent. Hillel and his family moved to Queens, New York, and then to California in 1967. Hillel attended Bancroft Jr. High School in Hollywood where he met future bandmates Jack Irons and Michael "Flea" Balzary. The three would graduate to Fairfax High School. While at Fairfax, Hillel learned how to play guitar and he, Jack, and Flea met future bandmate Anthony Kiedis. Hillel formed a band with Jack Irons on drums and two other high school friends, Alain Johannes and Todd Strasman. They called their band Chain Reaction and changed the name to Anthym after their first gig. Hillel became dissatisfied with Todd's bass playing and eventually taught Flea to play bass. Flea quickly surpassed Todd in bass skills and took over bass duties in Anthym.

After graduating from high school they changed the name of their band to What Is This? (which was a question often asked by people who heard the band play). Flea left Anthym around this time because he was offered a job playing bass in the prominent L.A. punk band Fear. What Is This? continued on and performed many shows along the California coast.


[edit] Red Hot Chili Peppers
One night, a man named Gary Allen (who was apparently friends with Anthony Kiedis) suggested that Anthony, Hillel, and Flea form a "one-off" band and open for his own band. Hillel and Flea were skeptical, but Gary thought Anthony would make a good vocalist because of his rowdy style and partymaniac attitude, so the three of them decided to do it. For the gig, they enlisted Jack Irons as their drummer and wrote the song "Out in LA," a city which Anthony apparently knew well because he had been hitting the Hollywood club scene since he was 12 years old. They dubbed themselves "Tony Flow and the Miraculous Masters of Mayhem". They were a hit with the club audience and the owner asked them to come back the next week.


Red Hot Chili Peppers, c. 1988. Jack Irons, Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Hillel SlovakTheir name changed to Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Anthony began writing more lyrics. The lyrics would eventually become songs such as "Green Heaven" and "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes". Over the course of the next six months, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played many shows in L.A. clubs and became something of an underground hit. They scored a record deal with EMI after just that short period of time and were set to record their first album. Flea left Fear, which was a very well-established L.A. punk band, to pursue the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Unfortunately, What Is This? had also gotten a record deal. Since Slovak considered the Chili Peppers to merely be a side project and not a serious commitment, he left them to concentrate on What Is This?.

During the recording of the second What Is This? album, Hillel became frustrated with the band. He contacted Flea about rejoining the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This came at an opportune time, as Kiedis and Flea were both dissatisfied with Hillel's replacement Jack Sherman. After the culmination of the promotional tour for their first album, Sherman was fired and Hillel rejoined the band.

Hillel returned to the Chili Peppers for their second and third albums, Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. With Hillel back on board and contributing his guitar playing, and with Jack Irons rejoining for the third album, the Chili Peppers recorded The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. The songs "Skinny Sweaty Man" and "No Chump Love Sucker" from The Uplift Mofo Party Plan were written about Hillel. He was nicknamed "Slim Bob Billy", "Slim", or "Huckleberry", and throughout the albums Anthony calls him by these nicknames before he starts a guitar solo.


[edit] Death
Hillel and Anthony developed serious heroin habits early in their careers that ultimately led to Hillel's death. During the European tour supporting

Hey guys, basically this is just to leave your comments on your favourite chili song while hillel was in the band.............

I used to shout
Across the room to you
And you'd come dancin'
Like a fool
Shuffle step
You funky mother
Come to me
All warm as covers

Rest with me
My lovely brother
For you see
There is no other
Memory so sad and sweet
I'll see you soon
Save me a seat

Well I'm cryin'
Now my lovely man
Yes I'm cryin'
Now and no one can
Ever fill the
The hole you left my man
I'll see you later
My lovely man if I can

In my room
I'm all alone
Waiting for you
To get home
Listen to Roberta Flack
But I know you won't come back

Well I'm cryin'
Now my lovely man
I'll see you later
My lovely man if I can

Just in case
You never knew
I miss you slim
I love you too
See my heart
It's black and blue
When I die
I will find you

Well I'm cryin'
Now my lovely man
Yes I'm cryin'
Now and no one can
Ever fill the
The hole you left my man
I'll see you later
My lovely man if I can

Well I'm cryin'
My lovely man
Well I'm cryin'
My lovely man
I'll see you later
My lovely man
We have some good time
My lovely man