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Lenny Kravitz And 20 Years In The Game

The legendary rocker opens up about race, music and love in a recent interview

Lenny Kravitz always knew he was unique. Long before the 47-year-old had a clear understanding of his sense of freedom, his mother, the late Roxie Roker from “The Jeffersons” made sure he at least understood where he stood as a child of mixed cultures. The rock star tells Details magazine in an interview, “I was 5 years old and she said, ‘You are just as much white as you are black, just as much Russian Jew as you are African-American. But society is only going to view you as black.’” Today, he defies it all and checks both boxes.

 

The same applies for his music. Twenty years ago, no one would have thought an African American man in tight pants and dreadlocks licking a guitar and playing rock music would have lasted but he did. Since his 1989 debut Let Love Rule, it’s been almost ten albums, with #9 Black and White America dropping August 30th.

 

Although he's made a name for himself as one of the best rockers, it was seeing the Jackson 5 when he was 7 at Madison Square Garden that lit an ember underneath him for music. Lenny tells Details, “The lights went down, the Jackson 5 came out, and it was paralyzing. I came home a changed person.”

 

Speaking of changes, the bachelor, whose also claiming to be celibate, says he’s ready to marry again. His first and only marriage was to  "The Cosby Show" and “A Different World” star Lisa Bonet, which whom he has the 22-year-old actress/model Zoë. The way Kravitz tells it, he’s “experienced enough as a single man.”

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