Singer and actor Lenny Kravitz: biography, musical career, film work, personal life

2025 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-24 17:46

Lenny Kravitz is an American singer, musician and songwriter. In compositions, he manages to harmoniously combine such genres as ballad, soul, reggae and funk. For four years, starting in 1998, the artist received a Grammy for his rock vocal performance. In 2011, Lenny was awarded the "Order of Arts and Letters" in France. Kravitz often works in the studio to record drums, keyboards and guitars.

Early Biography

The singer was born in 1964, May 26, in New York. Lenny's real name is Leonard Albert. The artist's father, Sai Kravitz, who worked as a producer for NBC TV News, came to the States from Ukraine. The singer's grandfather and great-grandfather were born in Kyiv. Lenny's mother, Roxy Roker, was an actress.

Lenny spent his childhood years in Manhattan, surrounded by art and famous people. He once confessed that he listened to Duke Ellington playing while sitting on the pianist's lap. Lenny Kravitz himself, whose photolocated below, began to take music lessons seriously after moving to Los Angeles. He first performed in the California Children's Choir, and soon began playing guitar, keyboards and drums.

Music career

At the age of 16, the guy decided to move out from his parents. Having prepared several tracks, Kravitz distributed them under the pseudonym Romeo Blue. The first label the aspiring artist collaborated with was I. R. S. records. Lenny soon signed with Virgin Records. In 1989, the world saw the artist's debut album Let Love Rule.

The songs of Lenny Kravitz, as well as his vocal skills, have conquered a large number of people not only in the US, but also abroad. According to the singer, the work of Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Prince and Stevie Wonder significantly influenced his development as a musician.

Lenny's biggest success came from working with Madonna on "Justify My Love". The song topped many charts for a long time. In 1991, the premiere of the album Mama Said took place. His compositions are permeated with feelings and sadness generated by the divorce process. The following year, Lenny Kravitz produced Vanessa Paradis' debut album.

In 1993 the singer released his third album Are You Gonna Go My Way. Thanks to this collection, Lenny became one of the most popular artists in the world. The album was awarded two Grammy statuettes. Then Kravitz managed to work with Aerosmith and Mickey Jagger. Premiere of his fifthrecords Circus took place in 1995.

Then Lenny released three more albums, namely "5", Lenny and Baptism. The latter was produced on the musician's personal label, which he named after his mother, who died in 1995. Critics called It Is Time for a Love Revolution the best of Kravitz's career for 2008. The ninth album, titled Black and White America, premiered in 2011.

Lenny Kravitz has more than four dozen music videos. The most provocative is the video for the song The Chamber with the participation of a naked model. The song itself was included in the tenth album of the artist Strut.

In 2014, Lenny competed in Russia as part of the Formula 1 race in Sochi. His fee amounted to 88,000,000 rubles. The artist's latest work at the moment is the 2018 album Raise Vibration. Over 30 years of his career, Kravitz has sold about 20 million copies of his records.

Filmography

In 2001, the singer first appeared in films. Lenny played himself in B. Stiller's film "Model Male". After 8 years, the artist got the role of nurse John in the drama Treasure. In 2012, Lenny Kravitz played Cinna in the fantasy thriller The Hunger Games. Also, the singer starred in the sequel to this picture. In 2013, Kravitz appeared in the political drama The Butler as James Holloway. In 2016, he began acting in the TV series Star and All for the Better. Later, the artist worked on Lee Daniels' film Frozen.

Private life

In 1987, Kravitz became the husband of actress Lisa Bonet. A year after the wedding, the artists had a girl, Zoe. Today, the 29-year-old daughter of Lenny Kravitz is acting in films. In addition, Zoe sings beautifully and plays the guitar. In 1993, Kravitz divorced Bonet. After Lisa got married for the second time, little Zoe chose to live with her dad.

In his youth, the artist's lovers were Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, Stella McCartney and even Naomi Campbell. Kravitz was engaged to Brazilian model Adriana Lima. For a long time, the singer was in a relationship with Nicole Kidman. The couple planned to get married, but the actress left Kravitz due to his betrayal. Then the artist met with Michelle Rodriguez. Later, information began to appear in the media about the close relationship between Lenny and Penelope Cruz. Now journalists are not following his personal life so closely.