蓝尼·克罗维兹

Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album Let Love Rule (1989) was characterized by a blend of rock, funk, reggae, hard rock, soul, and R&B, along with his subsequent releases.

Kravitz has had hit singles, including "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" (1991) and "Again" (2000), both of which peaked within the Billboard Hot 100's top ten. His other hits include "Let Love Rule" (1989), "Always on the Run" (1991), "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (1993), "Fly Away" (1998), and "American Woman" (1999), all of which peaked within the top ten of the Alternative Airplay chart. Kravitz has won several awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, which he received four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category, and setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male performer. Kravitz has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and was ranked 93 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".

Aside from his music career, Kravitz has acted in films including Precious (2009) and the first two installments of The Hunger Games film series (2012–13). In addition, he also founded the creative studio Kravitz Design Inc. Kravitz was previously married to Lisa Bonet, with whom he has a daughter, Zoë Kravitz.

Early life

Kravitz was born on May 26, 1964, in New York City, the only child of NBC television news producer Sy Kravitz (1924–2005) and actress Roxie Roker (1929–1995). His mother came from a Christian family that was of African American and Bahamian descent. His grandfather was Russian-Jewish. Kravitz's paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Kyiv. Through his mother, Kravitz is a second cousin of television weather presenter Al Roker, as their grandfathers were brothers. Kravitz was named after his uncle, Leonard M. Kravitz, a private first class who was killed in action in the Korean War at the age of 20, while single-handedly holding off a Chinese attack, enabling most of his platoon to escape.

During his early years, Kravitz did not grow up in a religious environment. After a spiritual experience when he was 13, he started attending church and later became a non-denominational Christian. Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with his parents, attending P.S. 6 for elementary school, and spending weekends at his grandmother Bessie's house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Kravitz began banging on pots and pans in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three. He decided that he wanted to be a musician at the age of five. He began playing the drums and soon added guitar. He grew up listening to the music his parents listened to: R&B, jazz, classical, opera, gospel, and blues. He said, "My parents were very supportive of the fact that I loved music early on, and they took me to a lot of shows." Around the age of seven, he saw the Jackson 5 perform at Madison Square Garden, and they became his favorite performers. His father, who was a jazz promoter, was friends with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Miles Davis, and other jazz greats; Ellington played "Happy Birthday" for him on his fifth birthday.