Perry Farrell

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Perry Farrell (born Perry Bernstein in New York City on March 29, 1959) is a musician particularly noted for his varied and founding role in alternative rock during the late 1980s and 1990s. Peretz (פרץ) is his Hebrew name, as well as his DJ moniker ("DJ Peretz"). His stage name is a play on the word peripheral (although Farrell also happens to be his brother's name).

Farrell was born in Queens, NY and moved to Miami with his family during his teens. His father was a jeweler, and his mother killed herself when Farrell was a young boy (an event later chronicled in the Jane's Addiction song "Then She Did"). Early musical influences included David Bowie and Lou Reed. Following his graduation from high school in the early 1980s, Farrell moved to California to live as a surfer, lived in his car and made money working construction and waiting tables.

He quickly became the frontman for the gothic rock band Psi Com in LA, and traveled in a larger community of area musicians including the bands X, Fishbone and Black Flag. Psi Com broke up around 1985 when other members fell in with religious cults, and Farrell soon met Eric Avery through mutual friends. The two began jam sessions which would become the initial foundation for Jane's Addiction.

Jane's Addiction made its name in mid-1980s LA by building up a rampant fan base with legendary, high-energy shows in small LA rock clubs, driven by Farrell's high-pitched singing, manic dancing and drug-fueled general showmanship. Following the first break-up of Jane's Addiction, Farrell also served as lead singer of Porno for Pyros. In 1991, prior to Jane's Addiction dissolving, he, Ted Gardener, and Marc Geiger created the Lollapalooza festival as a farewell tour for Jane's Addicton. Lollapalooza ran consecutively as a travelling festival until 1997. Farrell is therefore generally acknowledged as one of the "godfathers" of alternative rock music.

In 2001, he put out a solo electronica album, Song Yet To Be Sung, whose lyrics are inspired by Kabballah (Jewish mysticism). He occasionally DJs under the stage name of DJ Peretz. "Song Yet To Be Sung" generally met with poor reviews from fans.

Farrell toured with again Jane's Addiction in 2001 and 2003. In 2003, Jane's Addiction released an album, Strays, which was well received. They toured extensively in North America & Europe, as well as performing at the Big Day Out festivals in Australia and New Zealand. Internal struggles saw the band split up again in early 2004.

Farrell has since formed a new band/theatrical entity entitled The Satellite Party, which made its debut appearance in Los Angeles at The Key Club on July 18, 2005, followed by a performance at Lollapalooza 2005, held in Grant Park in downtown Chicago on July 24, 2005. An album is due in early 2006.

Farrell's wife Etty was the primary dancer for all the Jane's shows since the Relapse tour in 1997, and they now have two sons together. Farrell is known to have been a heavy drug user in the past, primarily cocaine (as well as heroin).

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