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Feature: Jack Foley
LENNY Kravitz seems to be enjoying something of a prolific period
at the moment, what with a new single, album and a semi-autobiographical
film about his life.
The multi-award winning singer-songwriter and guitarist, famed
for dating a succession of beautiful women, spent the majority
of the past 12 months writing, producing, arranging and performing
all of the tracks on his latest album, Baptism.
The result is a long-player which is being described in music
circles as the most accomplished of his career, and which Kravitz
himself hails as ‘a musical and spiritual rebirth’.
Released on May 17, Baptism marks his first new collection
of original material since 2001’s Lenny and features the
forthcoming single, Where Are We Runnin?
Other highlights include Minster of Rock ‘n’ Roll,
which Rolling Stone described as ‘a psychedelic, Moog-driven
stomper with big-rock swagger’, as well as Lady and
California.
The album also features the song Storm, which includes
a special guest appearance by rapper, Jay-Z.
Kravitz has consistently achieved tremendous critical acclaim
and commercial success with a succession of groundbreaking album
releases.
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He holds multiple gold, platinum and multi-platinum certifications
from the RIAA for his albums and singles, and has earned an array
of accolades, including Grammy Awards, MTV Video Music Awards
and American Music Awards.
In 2001, Kravitz set a Grammy record for the most wins in the
‘Best Male Rock Vocal Performance’ category, when he
took home his fourth consecutive award for his single Dig In
(previously winning for Again, American Woman and Fly
Away).
In 2003, he received his fifth Grammy nomination in the category
for If I Could Fall In Love off his last album, Lenny.
In support of Baptism, Kravitz will also be conducting
a world tour, which kicks off, in Holland, on May 31, at Pink
Pop.
After that is completed, he then intends to create and star in
a semi-autobiographical film about his life.
The film will be a dramatic comedy, called Barbecues and Bar
Mitzvahs, and is said to focus on the singer’s life growing
up as the son of a Jewish father and a black mother - actress
Roxie Roker, who played Helen Willis on The Jeffersons.
Commenting on that project, Kravitz said it would not be ‘a
music movie’, with any concert footage, or anything, but
rather ‘about someone, in my particular position, growing
up between two cultures’.
Barbecues and Bar Mitzvahs has been scheduled to begin shooting
next Spring, in time for a release later, in 2005.
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