Lenny Kravitz and His Troubles

Each of us can speak about black and white periods in our own lives. But there are people for whom these two colors are not merely the symbol of ups and downs, but the symbol of Fate itself. The son of a Ukrainian Jew and a Bahamian mother, Lenny Kravitz is the world famous multi-instrumentalist and producer, a man who for the past four years has held the Grammy Award for the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and who believes that troubles are a good incentive to creativity.

As a teenager, he was living permanently in two worlds at the same time. On workdays his friends were people from an elite New York neighborhood and on weekends he visited his grandmother in Brooklyn among the African-American rascals. This could considerably complicate life for some people, but not for Lenny, who felt comfortable in both worlds and who took the most precious thing from life for his soul and creativity – sincerity.
Although it is possible that some people would consider the period when the young musician was accused of not being original and of drawing inspiration from the past to be a dark time in his life, Lenny would not share this view.
In 1993, at the beginning of his career, Kravitz was often accused of loving Retro. “All this has already been done, boy!” they said. “You are not telling us anything new.”
However, there were those who were excited about the creation of the young singer. Although in the minority, they were a motivation for further experimentation. Perhaps this is when Kravitz learnt to adopt a philosophical approach to criticism and to focus exclusively on his own intuition about the “right direction” in his career.
Lenny Kravitz After graduating from secondary school, Lenny adopted the name “Romeo Blue” (Sad Romeo) and started performing dance rock. All people wanted was “Afro” music, but he felt and sang it differently. If he had changed his musical style at that time, he could have made fairly good money. But he refused to do this.
Yes, his life was full of problems. Many people did not understand when, in collaboration with Henry Hirsch, he developed and demonstrated a sophisticated recording technique. They did not understand when, in his first album, “Let Love Rule”, as a singer-hippie he uncharacteristically and sincerely proclaimed peace and love, when he divorced his wife and when he opposed the already hackneyed style of Afro-American singing.
But during all the time of surviving the black periods in his life, the singer stuck to what was most important – understanding and acceptance of himself. In order to find himself, he had to learn to combine with virtuosity in his style the elements of different musical genres such as rock, soul, funk, reggae, hard rock, folk and ballad. And in real life he learnt to merge expression and lyricism, gentleness and pressure, sexuality and spirituality…
In his music today, Kravitz opens the door to his home in the Bahamas which is located right on the beach. He sits in an armchair, viewing the ocean connecting with the sky. And he enters another world. A world without quarrels, dispute, divorce, greed or boredom. There is only light and love in this world. Yes, one of his two worlds is definitely the world of dreams. But is this inconceivable? Dreams sometimes become reality. Perhaps it is precisely his ability to live in several worlds simultaneously which makes Lenny a universal musician and singer, as well as a spiritually endowed person.