Leonard Albert Kravitz, commonly known as Lenny Kravitz, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and actor who was born on May 26, 1964. Rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, and ballads are all incorporated into his sound.
From 1999 to 2002, Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four times in a row, breaking the record for most victories in that category and setting the record for most consecutive wins by a male. Other prizes for which he has been nominated and won include the American Music Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, the Radio Music Awards, the Brit Awards, and the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.
‘It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over’ (1991) and ‘Again’ (2000) were both Billboard Top 10 hits, as were ‘Let Love Rule’ (1989), ‘Always on the Run (1991), Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993), Fly Away (1998), and ‘American Woman’ (1999), all of which reached the top 10 on the Alternative airplay chart. On VH1’s ‘100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock,’ Kravitz was voted No. 93.
In 2011, he was named an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his role as Cinna in the Hunger Games film franchise. Kravitz has sold over 40 million albums globally during his career.
Leonard Albert Kravitz was the only child of actress Roxie Roker (1929–1995) and NBC television news producer and Green Beret Sy Kravitz (1924–2005) and was born in Manhattan. His mother was born into a Christian household of African-American and Bahamian ancestors.
With record labels telling him his music wasn’t ‘black enough’ or ‘white enough,’ Kravitz decided to make an album under the name Romeo Blue on his own. In 1985, Kravitz met recording engineer/keyboardist/bassist Henry Hirsch while recording a demo at his studio in Hoboken, New Jersey.
In two instances, Kravitz has collaborated with Leica. A Leica M-P edition titled ‘The Correspondent’ was released in 2015, and a Monochrom edition titled ‘Drifter’ was released in 2019.
