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Born on 26 May of 1964 in New York City, New Yok USA, to a Bahamian mother
and father of Russian Jewish descent who was a TV producer; Lenny Kravitz
moved to Los Angeles in 1977 where his mother had a part in TV series
"The Jeffersons"; there he began teaching himself how to play
bass, piano, drums and guitar largely inspired by the '60s figures like
Jimi Hendrix.
In the mid-'80s, under the moniker Romeo Blue, recorded a demo-album but
failed to land a recording contract.
Kravitz married actress Lisa Bonet and relocated back to New York City
where recorded his debut album, "Let Love Rule"; the record
was issued in September of 1989 on Virgin Records, this time under his
real name; the title-track crashed into The Modern Rock chart, peaking
at #5 and helped the album reach the #61 position on The Billboard Top
200 chart; the second single track, "I Build This Garden For Us",
also hit the top 30 of The Modern Rock chart.
Two years later his sophomore effort, "Mama Said", entered the
top 40 of The Billboard 200 Albums list and reached the top 10 in the
U.K. chart, spawnig the Funky-oriented single, "It Ain't Over Till
It's Over", which peaked at #2 on The Billboard Hot 100; the follow-up
single, "Always On The Run", debuted at #8 on The Modern Rock
chart and "Stand By My Woman" became the album's second Hot
100 chart entry.
In March 1993, Kravitz released "Are You Gonna Go My Way" which
climbed to the top spot in the British chart and peaked at #12 in the
States, it was certified platinum for shipments of one million copies
and yielded a string of huge hits: the title-track peaked at #1 and #2,
respectively, on The Mainstream and The Modern Rock charts; "Believe"
soared to #10 on The Modern Rock Tracks chart, "Is There Any Love
In Your Heart?" hit #19 on the Billboard's Active Rock list and the
final single, "Heaven Help", reached the #80 slot on The Billboard
Hot 100.
A year later he scored one further Mainstream Rock top 20 hit with his
rendition of Kiss' "Deuce", recorded with Stevie Wonder; the
song was taken from the tribute album "Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss
Regrooved".
Kravitz followed his breakthrough effort with 1995's "Circus",
this album cracked the top 10 of The Billboard 200 chart but generated
only one hit single, "Rock And Roll Is Dead" which peaked at
#4 on The Mainstream Rock chart and reached the #10 spot on The Modern
Rock Tracks list; the second single, "Can't Get You Off My Mind",
missed the top 50 of The Billboard Hot 100.
Three years later Lenny Kravitz returned with the superb "5",
despite it barely sneaked into the top 30 of The Billboard 200 chart,
spawned, first of all, "Fly Away" which climbed to the top on
both Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks charts, eventually hit #1 in U.K.
Singles chart and finally won a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal
Performance; the second single off the CD, "If You Can't Say No",
was a moderate success; at this point Virgin opted to reissue the album
with two extra-tracks, one of which was taken from the 1999's soundtrack
of the movie "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me", the cover
of The Guess Who's "American Woman", quickly reached the top
3 of Billboard's Active Rock chart, peaked at #7 on The Modern Rock Tracks
and won his second Grammy. The fourth single, "I Belong To You"
came out in early 2000, it peaked at #71 on The Billboard Hot 100. The
singer ended the year with his "Greatest Hits" at #2 on The
Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, it included a new song: "Again",
another smash single which rose to #4 on The Billboard Hot 100 and at
the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards won for Best Male Rock Performance.
The next year saw the release of the artist's sixth studio-album, "Lenny",
which snagged the #12 slot on the U.S. Pop chart; the record included
the American top 40 hit single "Dig In" which also debuted at
#11 and #13, respectively, on Mainstream and Modern Rock charts. In early
2002 Lenny Kravitz with this single took home his fourth consecutive Grammy
Awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance; the second single, "Stillness
Of Heart", found more success in the Canadian chart and even in Europe.
In May 2004, he released "Baptism", the record hit #14 on The
Billboard Top 200 Albums list spawning the American Top 40 single "Lady"
and the Mainstream Rock top 30 hit "Where Are We Runnin'?".
After a three years break Lenny Kravitz returned to recording studios
and in February 2008 he released "It Is Time For A Love Revolution";
his eighth studio set went straight into the top 5 in over a dozen countries,
including United States, Canada and Australia. The first single off the
CD, "Bring It On", peaked at #25 on The Hot Mainstream Rock
chart while "I'll Be Waiting" entered the bottom half of The
Billboard Hot 100.
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