The rediscovery of Lenny Kravitz

People are talking about Lenny Kravitz these days. An incident while performing on stage in Stockholm, Sweden last Aug. 4, has turned him into a social media star. He is now known as the first male celeb in a wardrobe malfunction to make headlines. What happened was that Kravitz knelt down while singing and ripped his really tight leather pants on the crotch.

And horrors! He was not wearing undies. Of course, there were photos and videos taken of the event. Unruffled, Kravitz exited and changed into another pair of tight leather pants. He next apologized to the audience and resumed his show.

Was it embarassing? Perhaps. But the great thing about those torn pants is that they got people talking about Kravitz and thinking about him and listening to his music and hopefully discovering all the great stuff that he has done.

Kravitz grew up privileged in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and the suburbs of Los Angeles where he attended Beverly Hills High School. His father was a news producer who was also a jazz promoter. This exposed Lenny to big names in the music business and accounts for his unique style that blends rock with soul, funk, jazz, blues, reggae and other music types. He attained success in the ’80s and ’90s eras as an extraordinary singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He has since then sold over 40 million albums.

Kravitz has the distinction of having won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for four consecutive years.  Fly Away, 1999; American Woman, 2000; Again, 2001 and Dig In, 2002. He is also a hit-making producer with songs like Justify My Love for Madonna and I Can’t Make It Another Day for Michael Jackson. He has also co-written songs, co-produced or sung or played various instruments in recordings with the likes of Steven Tyler, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger and many others.

Among his big hits are Are You Gonna Go My Way, Fly Away, Rock And Roll Is Dead, Again, It Ain’t Over ‘Til Its Over, Can’t Get You Off My Mind, Mr. Cab Driver, American Woman, Stand By My Woman, Always On The Run, Heaven Help, I Belong To You, Believe, Let Love Rule and Black Velveteen, Does Anybody Out There Even Care, Flower Child and Tunnel Vision.

Kravitz’s latest release is the infectious rocker of crisp guitars and jazzy ballads titled Strut. As with all the recordings he has made, Strut is a well-thought out, very well-produced album. No sore thumbs here. Nothing is in it that does not jibe with what Kravitz wants to say. It is all about love, both earthy and sublime and the kind that one gives to oneself. That is what the anthemic Strut says. Be yourself and be proud of it. 

Kravitz wrote all the songs, sang everything, arranged all the cuts and played guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion and drums.  The rockers, which range from true rock and roll to mid-tempo jive stand out. Filled with funky riffs, these are Sex, Strut, The Chamber, New York City, Frankenstein and Dirty White Shoes. The ballads are interesting experiments that lean towards the blues or doo-woop. The Pleasure And The Pain, She’s A Beast, Happy Birthday, I Never Want To Let You Down and I’m A Believer. 

Then there is Ooo Baby Baby.  Remember this sexy swooner from the ’70s? It is just incredible that Kravitz took something from the legendary Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and was able to make it his own. And we all know how Smokey sounds. Now we have always known that Kravitz can sing but this one beats all he has ever done. 

An extremely talented artist, Kravitz is a lot of things. He also heads his own designing firm and is an occasional actor. In fact to the movie-going kids of today, he is Cinna, the kind-hearted stylist of The Hunger Games. Cinna was the one who created the Mockingjay dress under Katniss’ wedding gown. The revelation of that dress set off the revolution and the sight of the much-loved Cinna being led away by guards is a heart-wrenching moment in the picture.

See what torn leather pants and social media can do. They have got me rediscovering Kravitz and honestly regretting that his local gig scheduled earlier this year did not push through.  Some other time perhaps.