Lenny Kravitz

Background

Lenny Albert Kravitz has ruled the funk music industry for a long time. Not only is he a singer and an actor, but he is also a songwriter, record artist, and multi-instrumentalist. Born on May 26, 1964, in New York City, Kravitz is a Gemini and his ethnicity is African-American, Bahamian, and Jewish. His parents were Roxie Roker and Green Beret Sy Kravitz. At the age of five, Kravitz decided that he would become a musician. He began playing the drums and guitar and grew up listening to music that his parents loved, namely R&B, jazz, classical, opera, gospel, and blues.

After relocating to Los Angeles with his parents, Kravitz joined a choir at the age of 10. He was in it for three years, performed a classical repertoire, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera. He was introduced to rock music when he was in junior high school. Kravitz said that he was “attracted to the cool style, the girls, the rock’n’roll lifestyle”. While in high school, he taught himself to play the piano. Kravitz was met with a lot of resistance when he wanted to release his first album. He decided to record it on his own under the name Romeo Blue, with the help of recording engineer Henry Hirsch. With the help of his friend, Stephen Smith, Kravitz got a record deal with Virgin Records in 1989. His first album, “Let Love Rule” came out in the same year. Many songs from it were a combination of rock and funk, with a 1960s vibe.

The album received mixed reviews, and Kravitz’s wife, Lisa Bonet, directed the video for the title track ‘Let Love Rule’. The singer went on to produce and co-write the song ‘Justify My Love’ for fellow artist Madonna. It was a number one hit. Kravitz’s second album, “Mama Said” (1991), reached the Top 40 list of hit albums for the year. One of the songs ‘It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over’ was number two on the Billboard top 100 songs. He wrote a song for the rock band Aerosmith, and appeared on Mick Jagger’s solo album “Wandering Spirit”.

Kravitz played the guitar for David Bowie’s album title track ‘Buddha of Suburbia’. With his fifth album “5” (1998), Kravitz used digital technology in his work for the first time. The album gained a bigger audience because of his hit song ‘Fly Away,’ which also won the singer his first Grammy Award in 1999 in the category ‘Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.’ Kravitz went on to win three more awards in the same category in the next three years. He released his latest album in 2018, titled “Raise Vibration.”

Kravitz made his acting debut in “Precious” (2009). He also was part of the “Hunger Games” franchise in 2012 and 2013, playing the role of Chinna. The singer also enjoys photography and once released his gallery of pictures. He established Kravitz Design in 2003, for commercial, residential, and product design. Kravitz was married to Lisa Bonet for six years, and they had a daughter, actress Zoë Kravitz. The singer was in a relationship with singer and model Vanessa Paradis for four years. He dated model Adriana Lima for a brief period, and also was engaged to actress Nicole Kidman for a year.