Lenny Kravitz Visits Graceland

Who is Lenny Kravitz?

"CD King wrote on November 23, 2004: Who is Lenny Kravitz?" Well, Lenny Kravitz is a singer but, compared to Elvis, he's no-one! xD I really don't think that's an important news though...

A little bit of info... Lenny Kravitz was born in New York on May 26, 1964. When Kravitz emerged in the late 80s, he brought with him a bold rock and alternative sound combining the feeling of the 60s with the urgency of the 80s. His musical style (reminiscent of Hendrix) and songwriting talents (compared to Lennon) first caught the ears of music critics, and soon music lovers yearning for a new distraction from pop radio. Even though his look on stage reminded viewers of the 60s, his moves and musical innovation proved it was a different decade. Kravitz, who is half-Jewish and half-Bahamian, grew up in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles with his mom, actress Roxie Roker of (Helen Willis on The Jeffersons), and dad, TV producer, Sy Kravitz. Kravitz said of youth: "I grew up with a lot of artists around... here I was, 8 years old, hanging out with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella, Bobby Short, Miles, all these incredible people." While growing up, Kravitz taught himself how to play various music instruments and began writing his own songs. Kravitz was a member of the California Boys Choir until his voice changed: "I went to high school, picked up the guitar again and got back into the rock 'n roll." Kravitz attended Beverly Hills High School along with Slash of Guns N' Roses and Maria McKee of Lone Justice. His first brush with his own notoriety came when he married actress Lisa Bonet (of The Cosby Show) in 1987 (the couple divorced 6 years later after a 2 year separation). Kravitz provided background vocals for a hit song he wrote and recorded with Madonna, "Justify My Love" and creating a new version of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance" recorded by several artists as the Peace Choir (in response to the Gulf War) and produced by Kravitz.

I think Lenny Kravitz its cool ( Thank´s to Elvisss Wrote for the info, its good to know that there are some Elvis Fans who are music lovers not Elvis fundamentalist ) Someone who grew up with artist like those around him must had a diferent point of view about Elvis than the average fans (Lennon included), a diferent point of view but even then, he dig´s Elvis, he respects him as much as he respects artists like Miles Davis. Thats cool for me even if is not important news. Some other people that I think the fact that they visited Graceland says that Elvis real importance in music and pop culture goes beyond his illiterate fans: Fiona Apple, The Beastie Boys, Tracy Chapman, James Brown, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Bob Dylan, Isaac Hayes, Louis Jordan, B.B. King, The Kinks, Kiss (I hate them, they are not welcome) Kool and the Gang (Those are cool!, must wellcome!) Metallica (who needs them), Ozzy Osbourne, Pink Floyd!, Iggy Pop!, Keith Richards and Byll Wyman!, Paul Simon, Ringo Star, Rufus Thomas, U2, Fogerty, Mohamed Ali... A this is boring and Im tired, Im not going to mention all of those god wicked people... you know that list, you know who they are, do you? (my list is old, but I´ve hear the Flaming Lips recenty where there, is that true?)

My girlfriend likes Lenny and was watching a documentary about him on tour in America. At one point him and his band were watching TTWII on tv in their tour bus. They were all moving to the music and appeared to be really into the whole thing.

Lenny's a true original, very innovative and obviously a big fan of the King. Respect!

I'm sorry, but this is hardly news, I don't really want to know about a poor Jim Hendrix imitator visiting Graceland. Give us info about Elvis on Tour CD or other relevant news.

I think the thing that got everyone pissed off about Lenny is that he started mouthing off this summer about how Elvis was NOT really the inventor of rock and roll but that Little Richard and Berry were. I think he showed his ignorance here. For instance, he should know that Elvis released "That's All Right" before Little Richard had his fisrt hit "Tutti Frutti" in December 1955. Elvis released his first revolutionary hit in July of 1954. This is a year before Berry and a year and half before Richard. Kravitz should listen to what John Lennon and Keith Richards and Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin said about ELvis. Lennon: Before Elvis, there was nothing. Keith Richards: Before every Stones' performance, I listen to Elvis' Sun recordings. Bob Dylan: Elvis was his greatest rock influence (see his first 1962 album). Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: When I fist heard Elvis' Baby Let's Play House, that is when I wanted to go into rock and roll. Why doesn't Kravitz get it? Is he on drugs or soemthing? Is he just stupid? What is there that he doesn't understand? I agree that he is a copycat though. He is trying to be the NEW John Lennon or something. Hey, Lenny, Lennon wants his style back. Hey, Lenny, look into something called "originality"! Stop ripping people off.

It's a shame Lenny made those comments about the origins of rock 'n' roll, but he shouldn't be dismissed as a copycat artist. He may be influenced by the likes of Hendrix and Lennon, but he certainly has his own style and is a very gifted songwriter. If we go around rubbishing everyone who shows signs of being influenced by artists that went before, we can rubbish just about every performer. Lenny is also a great showman. I've seen him live and he is one of the few performers these days who really uses his charisma to interact with the audience. I would guess that those who dismiss him haven't seen him live.

Saying that if you haven't seen a singer live means that we can't give an opinion means that all the people who didin't live in the states or were too young to see Elvis should just keep their mouths shut. Rubbish!

Oh calm down Ged. I didn't say it's wrong to give an opinion on singers if you haven't seen them live. I said that in the case of Lenny, seeing him live would likely cause a change of opinion. It did for me and for everyone I was with. Don't put words in my mouth.

I saw Lenny Kravitz live in concert in 1994 when he was the opening act for The Rolling Stones on their Voodoo Lounge Tour. He was OK but very derivative musically. He is basically stuck in a TIME WARP: 1965-1968. It is the whole Beatles/Stones schtick, John Lennon, the whole Hendrix-Clapton-Cream schtick, and a little bit of the early 1968 Led Zeppelin. I remember the song "Hey Cab Driver" which sounded very Beatle-ish to me. He even uses the old Beatles VOX amps! Talk about retro! Some people call it a "homage" while others call it "ripoff". Lenny is definitely retro! He has consciously cultivated that whole 60s era by having Led Zep's John Paul Jones play on his records and he remade Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance". His clothes and equipment is also retro. So he is looking back to 1965-1968 and NOT the future. His music is very derivative. He is small fry. His career is already on the downswing.

Well, Lenny Kravitz is right when he said Elvis Presley is not the inventor of rock and roll cause Elvis isn´t; but Kravitz is wrong to when he said Chuck Berry and Little Richar where. There is not such thing as the "inventor" of rock and roll; true is the fact that Elvis recording and release of "Thats all Righ" the famous formula of a blues song in white style backed with "Blue Moon of Kentuky" a country song in R&B up tempo style came first than Chuck Berry first release "Maybellene" a R&B approach to country, probably inspired in what he heard in Elvis Sun sides . "Thats all righ" was released on SUN on July 1954, while "Maybellene" from Chess was recorded till May 1955 and thats after Elvis "Good Rockin Tonight/I Don´t care if the sun..." sep 54, "Milkcow Blues Boogie/Youre a Heart breaker" Jan 55 and "Baby Let´s Play Houes/ I´m left, youre Right..."April 55, singles that already had caught a lot of atention because his inovative sound. But the other way around "Maybellene" hit number: 5 on the Billboard on August 55 while Elvis first real impact on Billboard was untill Jan 1956 with "Heartbreak Hotel" at no.-1. So a lot of people in the US probably heard first Berry music rater than Elvis music, (I first remember Elvis) but that is mainly because Chess had a larger distribution than Sun records. (Curiously Howlin Wolf recorded first at Memphis Recording Service (1951) with Sam Philips who sold those recordings to Chess.) And talkin about huge Blues legends, if Elvis early sun sides where not Billboard charters, that doesn´t mean they´re impact was crusial in rock and roll development, even the great Muddy Waters (Berry´s mentor) felt intimidated by Elvis raw, new and exiting musical blend, and in Jan 56 while Mystery Train was up in the country charts Waters made his recording of "All Board", another train rhythm song that opened with a line from an Arthur Crudup´s song (Mean Old Frisco) reinforcing with this the conection with Elvis, yet he could not match the intensity of Elvis Sun recordings, and Blues went comercially to a slump till the 60´s revival. Bo Diddley someone that Kravitz forgot, cames until March 55, and Little Richard sounds R&B to me util Berry and Elvis recordings made and influence on him. Ok I don´t want to make the story long, but the fact is that it is long, and my point is that if is true that Elvis is a main architect in rock and roll, he is not the only one, cause those early sun singles sound more Rockabilly than rock and roll to me, as well as Berry, Richard and Diddley sound more R&B than rock and roll. Theres no such a thing as "the inventor", rock and roll emerged from the interaction among them and many other artist and people, what they learned from each other, a mutual influence plus the urges and needs of the post war adolescent (in all the meaning or the word) generation audience, and the social changes of the time. And don´t speak as if they were enemies, they liked and learned from each other music, Elvis loved Berry and Little Richard music and they liked Elvis music as well, and back then we were not arguing about who was who, we simply enjoyed the music and wanted a diferent way of life, we did that until Woodstock failed because our own mistakes. The first pure Rock and Roll song is? I chose "Satisfaction" by, well you know by who.

William S. Burroughs. You miss the whole point completely. Elvis WAS the inventor of Rock n Roll because he brought two diverse musical styles together - i.e. black and white music. Black rhythm & blues music may have been a influence on Elvis but that doesn't make the artists who sang it the "inventors of Rock n Roll". The black artists of that day were not really interested in mixing music of white origin into their music. And who can blame them, seeing how they were treated at that time? Their music was created to speak to other black people who shared a closeness brought on through a common obversity. It was called the blues for obvious reasons. Elvis absorbed both black & white music. It was he who combined the two to create Rock n Roll. And this is where you miss the point. Elvis mixed music of two cultures together. The creation of Rock n Roll needed these two cultural influences. On their own they did not constitute Rock n Roll. Just because there were black artists who sang music with a beat before Elvis doesn't mean that what they were singing was Rock n Roll. It needed another ingredient, and that was Elvis. He mixed not only country with rhythm & blues, but also all the other music that was an influence on him - clearly evident, even on his Sun recordings. The likes of Lenny Kravitz are just angry because it wasn't a black artist who mixed two opposing cultural and musical styles together. In other words he (like others) has a racial/cultural axe to grind. It seems that some are just trying to re-write musical history for the sake of political correctness. Black artists of the blues genre in the 1950's were not mixing the diverse mix of music needed to create Rock n Roll. Elvis did it. He created Rock n Roll. As I've said, Rock n Roll was a mixture of two (and more) cultural musical styles. It wasn't a black artist that mixed the two, it was a white one. ELVIS.

Ha,Ha King of Western Bop you swallow the hook;read more carefully and try to understand beyond your Elvis Fanatism. I haven´t said that wasn´t Elvis the very first one to brought two diverse musical styles together (Black and White), totally the other way, I showed facts that proved that he was the first one, at least in rock and roll history context, because people in Jazz done that before, (both white people and Black people). King of Western Bop, I´ve have never ever said that the fact of black rhythm & blues music having an influence on Elvis make the artists who sang it the "inventors of Rock n Roll". Actually I said that Kravitz is wrong when he said Chuck Berry and Little Richard where the inventors of Rock. Did you really read what I said? I stated that 3 of Elvis Sun Singles where released before than Berry´s "Maybellene" which was a country song aproached in R&B style, but that mix of styles was something that Berry heard on Elvis sides, it had to be that way, even Muddy Waters at once try to emulate Elvis style cause it was somthien so new to everybody. Where you probably get confused is when I said that Berry hit the Billboard before Elvis and that probably is the cause that many people back then had the impresion that Chuck Berry had the idea first, but im not saying Berry or other black artist were, so what´s you´re point baby? Oh my little boy you are angy cause I did say that Elvis was not "the inventor of rock and roll" what you probably didn´t get is that I said no one is, there is no such thing. Yes Elvis is one of his main architects, and without him rock and roll would not be what it is,he brought so many elements to it, and not only musical, (that´s why he is an icon and not Berry or any other except Dylan and a few after him) but, and you should know that he is not the only one, and without people like Berry (combine Berry licks with Scotty´s ones and there is rock and roll, alone well...its rock and roll but it still own to much to the past) Little Richard, Bo Diddley (who was a black artist really into the blending of diferent musical styles), Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee etc. rock and roll would not be also what it is. Can you deny that? Elvis would´t.