Lenny Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is a Bahamian American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His “retro” style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all of the instruments himself when recording. He won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category as well as setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male. He has been nominated for and won other awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, Brit Awards, and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. He played Cinna in the Hunger Games film series. (More from Wikipedia)
The Rolling Stones were the “bad boys” of the British Invasion. They played around with Satanic themes and imagery, most famously with their hit “Sympathy for the Devil”, and also their under-rated psychedelic album that had the unfortunate title of Their Satanic Majesties’ Request. (From Wikipedia: “The album’s title is a play on the ‘Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires ...’ text that appears inside a British passport.”)
But even the Stones came up with a religious themed song a while back, or at least Mick Jagger did: “God Gave Me Everything” was co-written by Mick and Christian rocker Lenny Kravitz (who also performed on the recording) and was included on his 2001 album, Very Best of Mick Jagger. I remember seeing the video many years ago back when you’d see those on MTV from time to time.
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Lenny Kravitz had a spiritual experience when he was thirteen and has been a non-denominational Christian ever since. His yearning to be a musician began when he was just five years old. Early in his career, he was told by recording executives that his music either wasn’t “white enough” or wasn’t “black enough”; he is of mixed-race ancestry as well. His debut album, Let Love Rule came out in 1989.
While his music is not overtly religious for the most part, one of his biggest hit songs, “Are You Gonna Go My Way” seems to me to be written as a message from Jesus to humanity; the first verse is:
I was born long ago
I am the chosen I’m the one
I have come to save the day
And I won’t leave until I’m done
The music has a definite Jimi Hendrix vibe; and on the video, the musicians backing Lenny Kravitz with his flowing dreadlocks (the drummer is a woman, Cindy Blackman) look very much like the Jimi Hendrix Experience in their prime. The ceiling above the band has swirling flashes of bright light that are perfect for the music.
(November 2014)
