| Lenny Kravitz |
Lenny Kravitz
An accomplished singer and musician, Lenny Kravitz’s voice is only one of the many instruments he has mastered. This Grammy Award winning performer, who counts Jimi Hendrix and Prince among his musical inspirations, has achieved worldwide success thanks to his impressive and numerous talents.
Lenny Kravitz was born on May 26th, 1964 in New York, New York. After a move to California at a young age, Kravitz soon showed his incredible aptitude for all things musical. In addition to teaching himself how to play bass, guitar, drums, and piano, Lenny developed his singing voice with the California Boys Choir and the Metropolitan Opera. In high school, he used the name Romeo Blue when performing. After being signed by Virgin Records, Lenny released his first album, Let Love Rule, in 1989. The title track climbed to number five on the modern rock charts and the album was fairly, but not incredibly, successful. Mama Said, Kravitz’s second album, achieved more than the first. Most notably, his single It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. His third album, the 1993 Are You Gonna Go My Way, proved to be Lenny’s most successful recordings to date. He was recognized with a Brit Award for Best International Male Artist, and the title track topped the charts in Australia and climbed to number two on the Billboard Top 100. Circus was only moderately successful, leading him to enhance his music with synthesizers and tape loops. His four subsequent albums, including the digitally enhanced 5, earned Kravitz worldwide fame. The citizens of Europe and Canada were now among Lenny’s devoted fans. Since 1999, he has earned four consecutive Grammy Awards for his singles Fly Away, featured in airline and car commercials, the remake of The Guess Who’s American Woman, featured on the second Austin Powers flick, Again, which was included in his greatest hits compilation, and Dig In, a single from his sixth album.
In a world where most artists have their own backup bands, Lenny is unique in that he usually plays all the instruments on any given track. Although Lenny has not released any albums in the last number of years, he has worked with recording artists Jay Z, P. Diddy, and Michael Jackson on numerous projects. Showing his political side, Lenny released We Want Peace, a track criticizing the Iraq War. Kravitz worked with other performers on From the Bottom of My Heart, a charity single written by Michael Jackson to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Lately he has also been turning his attention towards another art form. Kravitz Design, an interior decorating business, was co-founded by the singer.
Known for his long list of lovers, Kravitz was once a happily married man. After sharing a house with Lisa Bonet, the pair fell in love and married in November of 1987. Bonet is best known for playing Denise on the hit series The Cosby Show and its spin-off, A Different World. Before their divorce, Lisa gave birth to daughter Zoe. Kravitz was briefly romantically linked to pop queen Madonna, known for her sexy and controversial music, around the time she covered his single Justify My Love. Throughout the years, Kravitz has been involved with many other celebrities. Among them are French singer Vanessa Paradis, Stella McCartney, daughter of singer and former Beatle Paul McCartney, actress Nicole Kidman, singers Kylie Minogue and Natalie Imbruglia, and Brazilian model Adriana Lima, to whom he was briefly engaged. His most recent union is with Barbara Feltus, the ex-wife of tennis superstar Boris Becker.
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