Rock god. Guitar hero. Soldier of soul. Lenny Kravitz refused to confine himself to any one genre, reimagining rock & roll for the 1990s and beyond.

Born into a multiracial, multiethnic household, Lenny Kravitz cut his teeth in music banging on a pots-and-pans drum kit at age 3 and singing in the California Boys Choir. From there, he became an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, ultimately playing the bulk of the instruments on all eleven of his albums. It took Kravitz time to find a record label that could market an artist who stirred everything from psychedelic rock and funk to R&B and hard rock into a deliciously retro but entirely fresh stew.

After a bidding war among the five major labels, Kravitz chose Virgin because it gave him complete creative control. He soon hit Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 with the soulfully smooth “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” and reached international superstardom with the riff-driven barnburner “Are You Gonna Go My Way.” Kravitz continues to defy categorization with singles like the infectiously groovy “Fly Away” and his 2024 album’s debut single, the futuristic and sultry “TK421.” His standout lyrics detail the realities of race, notably “Bank Robber Man” – a personal story of racial profiling – and “Black and White America” – where he weaves his family’s story into the wider promise of an Obama-era America.

Lenny Kravitz redefined classic rock and created space for a generation of bands like the Struts and Greta Van Fleet to continue expanding the rock genre. His record-breaking four consecutive Grammy Awards for Male Rock Vocal Performance illustrate his staggering impact. Beyond music, he is a cultural icon – he founded Kravitz Design, represents Y cologne, and portrayed the stylist Cinna in The Hunger Games franchise. No one else in rock & roll embodies the concept of cool like Lenny Kravitz.

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