LENNY KRAVITZ
For this one-man band, no influence is out of bounds—even the Partridge Family

“Maybe I’m schizophrenic,” says Lenny Kravitz with a chuckle, contemplating his reputation as one of rock’s most committed multi-instrumentalists. From his 1989 debut Let Love Rule through the new Black and White America, Kravitz has consistently played almost all the instruments on his albums. “When I’m playing various instruments, I take on different personalities. It’s as if the bass player, the drummer, the guitarist, the keyboardist and the singer are all different people—even though it’s just me. When I listen to the results, it always sounds like a true band session.” For Black and White America, the newly built home studio at Kravitz’s residence in the Bahamas only encouraged that impulse. “It was like having a new toy,” he says of the gear-stuffed facility. “You want to play with it. I started writing uncontrollably.”
Kravitz is well aware that he also has a reputation for writing songs steeped in the influences of his favorite artists—“Sly Stone, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, the classic stuff,” he allows. When charges came early in his career that his music was overly derivative, he stayed the course. “The funny thing is, 10 years later groups like the Strokes began to be praised for doing exactly the things I was torn apart for,” he says. “I thought that whole criticism was ridiculous. Most of my favorite artists drew from the past. I just read an article about how Earth, Wind & Fire used to get torn apart in the press. The same was true of Led Zeppelin.”
While making his new album Kravitz delved even more deeply than usual into the music of his ’60s childhood. “In those days, even children’s TV was psychedelic,” he says. “Shows like H.R. Pufnstuf were psychedelic. You can hear the impact of that on a song like ‘Stand.’ I dragged a harpsichord down to the Bahamas to use on that song. As it developed, I thought, ‘Oh, I see what’s going on here—this is like something from The Partridge Family!’”
Kravitz plans to spend much of the next two years touring, which he admits has been a grind in the past. “It can be monotonous just running through the hits,” he says. “So I’m going to perform the songs people want to hear, but I’m also going to explore this new music. The live experience will be almost like starting over.”
–Russell Hall

“So I’m going to perform the songs people want to hear, but I’m also going to explore this new music. The live experience will be almost like starting over.”

LENNY KRAVITZFor this one-man band, no influence is out of bounds—even the Partridge Family

“Maybe I’m schizophrenic,” says Lenny Kravitz with a chuckle, contemplating his reputation as one of rock’s most committed multi-instrumentalists. From his 1989 debut Let Love Rule through the new Black and White America, Kravitz has consistently played almost all the instruments on his albums. “When I’m playing various instruments, I take on different personalities. It’s as if the bass player, the drummer, the guitarist, the keyboardist and the singer are all different people—even though it’s just me. When I listen to the results, it always sounds like a true band session.” For Black and White America, the newly built home studio at Kravitz’s residence in the Bahamas only encouraged that impulse. “It was like having a new toy,” he says of the gear-stuffed facility. “You want to play with it. I started writing uncontrollably.”
Kravitz is well aware that he also has a reputation for writing songs steeped in the influences of his favorite artists—“Sly Stone, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, the classic stuff,” he allows. When charges came early in his career that his music was overly derivative, he stayed the course. “The funny thing is, 10 years later groups like the Strokes began to be praised for doing exactly the things I was torn apart for,” he says. “I thought that whole criticism was ridiculous. Most of my favorite artists drew from the past. I just read an article about how Earth, Wind & Fire used to get torn apart in the press. The same was true of Led Zeppelin.”
While making his new album Kravitz delved even more deeply than usual into the music of his ’60s childhood. “In those days, even children’s TV was psychedelic,” he says. “Shows like H.R. Pufnstuf were psychedelic. You can hear the impact of that on a song like ‘Stand.’ I dragged a harpsichord down to the Bahamas to use on that song. As it developed, I thought, ‘Oh, I see what’s going on here—this is like something from The Partridge Family!’”
Kravitz plans to spend much of the next two years touring, which he admits has been a grind in the past. “It can be monotonous just running through the hits,” he says. “So I’m going to perform the songs people want to hear, but I’m also going to explore this new music. The live experience will be almost like starting over.”
–Russell Hall

“So I’m going to perform the songs people want to hear, but I’m also going to explore this new music. The live experience will be almost like starting over.”