Wave Wire Services
HOLLYWOOD — A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled March 12 honoring Lenny Kravitz for being credited with reimagining rock ‘n’ roll for the 1990s and beyond and receiving nine Grammy nominations, winning four times.
“I used to walk these very streets because the action and the grit that I was missing in New York was right here in Hollywood,” Kravitz told the crowd gathered for the ceremony in front of the Capitol Records Tower. “As a teenager, I spent a lot of time walking up and down Hollywood Boulevard, seeing the names of all my idols.
“I never dreamed about having a star. I was usually just looking for a place to crash. But I did dream about making the music I wanted and doing my own thing. To see my name, Lenny Kravitz, permanently engraved on the same street I used to walk is a surreal, indescribable feeling.”
Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington and Kravitz’s actress daughter Zoë Kravitz joined him in speaking at the ceremony.
Washington said he has known Kravitz for 30 years, joking, “We’re twins, we just don’t look alike.”
“God has blessed him with an unbelievable talent, but even more so with an unbelievable heart,” Washington said.
Kravitz was born May 26, 1964, in New York City and named after his father’s younger brother, U.S. Army Pfc. Leonard Kravitz, who was killed in the Korean War in 1951 while suppressing a Chinese attack and saving most of his platoon.
Kravitz took his first steps to a music career when he began banging on a pots-and-pans drum kit when he was 3 years old.
He and his family moved to Southern California when he was 10 years old after his mother, Roxie Roker, was cast as Helen Willis on the 1975-85 CBS comedy “The Jeffersons.” He continued his musical aspirations by singing with the California Boys Choir for three years.
Kravitz released his debut album, “Let Love Rule,” in 1989 and it was certified as gold by the industry trade group the Recording Industry Association of America for selling more than 500,000 copies.
He received his first Grammy nominations in 1994 for best rock song for the single “Are You Gonna Go My Way” and best rock vocal performance, solo for its track from the album of the same name.
Kravitz is among the 2024 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Kravitz’s 12th studio album, “Blue Electric Light,” is set to be released May 24. He is set to begin a 13-nation European concert tour June 23 in Hamburg, Germany.
