Tragedy a Prince-ipal inspiration Songwriter reveals how shock death of his pal had a huge effect and influenced his latest album
Lenny Kravitz is one of the greatest multi-talented rock ’n’ soul writer performers of his generation.
With 38 million albums sold and four Grammy wins in a row, Bahamas-based Lenny has collaborated with Bowie, Jagger, Jay-z and Madonna, as well as being romantically linked to Madge, Kylie, Nicole Kidman and Natalie Imbruglia – since his split from actress wife Lisa Bonet in 1993.
Raise Vibration, his first album in four years, radiates exotic positivity with added guitar power trio might – the sort of album his friend Prince might have made.
“I can play all the instruments, write, produce, I can do anything,” he tells me. “I can do one of a hundred things. But the question was, is this who I am right now? I wanted to be truly inspired and not have to dig for it.
“So I stuck by it. And I... just got quiet. And I listened. And I just got, you know, into the nature. And I woke up one night with a song in my dream. And that was the first song, and the whole thing came from then.”
The death of Prince has had a powerful influence on the album. “It had a huge effect on me,” admits Lenny, 54. “The way I felt about him was kind of like a big brother. A great example. He was obviously someone I liked in high school, adored.
“And then we became friends, and we would do things. I’d go to his studio, you know. He’d come see me – we would go to other concerts. We used to go to concerts together, other artists.”
He confides that the tale of the pair of them going to see Maxwell together is “a whole other story”.
“We used to go see Michael Jackson in the studio together,” he continues. “We’d kind of mess with Michael a little bit, which was fun. We used to play together. He’d come to my show, he’d come out to jam, I’d go to his show, we’d go to aftershow parties together.”
Prince’s shock death was a blow, but Raise Vibration is alive with the spirit of Lenny’s best, heartlifting music. “It woke me up and caused me to dig deeper and to work harder,” he says. “Because I felt like my journey was, you know, I was just in the middle of my journey. And if I did just that, I would be quite incomplete.
“And so, it just really woke me up. Like, ‘Do your thing. Really do your thing, man’. And so yeah, that’s where we are.”
■■Raise Vibration is out September 7. Tour begins June 19, O2 Apollo Manchester