Born Perry Bernstein in New York City on March 29, 1959, Perry Farrell is one of the dominant alternative music figures of the 1990s. His stage name is a play on the word peripheral.

Farrell was the bandleader of Alternative/Metal bands Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros. In 1991, prior to Jane's Addiction dissolving, he. his bandmates, Ted Gardener and Marc Geiger created the Lollapalooza festival as a farewell tour.

In 2001, he put out a solo album, Song Yet To Be Sung, whose lyrics are much inspired by Jewish mysticism.

Farrell restarted Jane's Addiction and Lollapalooza in 2003.