For Robb Report, Lenny Kravitz offered a deeply personal retrospective on the foundational relationships and creative philosophy that have defined his life and prolific career, emphasizing the values of humility, hard work, and spiritual readiness. Kravitz views success not through "how many hits or how much you make" or "abundance of things," but rather as "just doing the work" and achieving a "healthy state of mind, spirit, body". He stresses that material possessions "should not define us" because they "can't take with us". For Kravitz, the purest creative joy lies in the process, starting from "nothing"—such as "a blank canvas," "a camera," or "a studio with just a bunch of instruments"—and creating something when finished. He channels the eloquent advice of Quincy Jones: "You just want to be ready when God walks in the room to capture what you're being given". Kravitz sees himself as merely an "antenna," waiting to "pick up what's floating around out there," understanding that the gift "came from somewhere else, didn't come from me".
Kravitz credits his mother, a successful actress who became a television star on The Jeffersons for 11 seasons, as a powerful early influence. Having achieved success after years working in experimental and off-Broadway theater with groups like the Negro Ensemble Company, she was already "well grown and established in who she was as a human being". Kravitz describes her as "so humble, so down to earth, so not Hollywood". He admitted that as a teenager, he questioned her modesty, wondering "why aren't we cleaning the house" or "why don't we have this," to which she responded that they must be responsible for their own home. Though he had a "very tumultuous relationship with my father," they reconciled "in the end".
Kravitz’s primary male role model was his grandfather, who served as his "father figure". His grandfather, who became "man of his house at the age of nine" with four siblings, was a self-educated, great thinker and reader who served as a mentor to many. He taught Kravitz about responsibility, hard work, and the importance of "building on a strong foundation," famously advising that "if the foundation isn't strong the house is going to fall". Kravitz humorously recalls being woken up at 5 a.m. by his grandfather, who would drip water on his forehead "one drop at a time" as a quirky call to "get up" and do chores.
Related article - Uphorial Radio
Kravitz’s childhood was filled with legendary figures, though he was often too young to understand their cultural significance. He recalls that Duke Ellington sang him "happy birthday when you turned five". At the time, Ellington was just "the old guy in the white suit with the little silver goatee and the slick back hair" who played piano. Kravitz loved the music, including "Take the A train," but "didn't know what he meant to the culture" until he grew up and realized who he had been around, calling the realization a "complete bugout". This early exposure was often undocumented, happening "pre- everybody having cameras around".
Unlike many artists, Kravitz recorded his first album primarily as a solo artist, playing different instruments by himself in the studio, and thus lacked the traditional "band experience". He had not been on the road since a brief "classical career" in a boy choir when he was a kid. After getting a record deal, he was "thrown into this whole thing that I had not done before," having only performed in theater, television, and around the Metropolitan Opera and Joffrey Ballet with his mother. He quickly had to "get a hold of" the role of "the guy up front," a transition he remembers well, including his nervous early performances. One notable early show was at the Stone Pony in New Jersey, where Bruce Springsteen, having "heard about me," came down to see him. This led to Kravitz's "first picture in Rolling Stone," taken with Springsteen in the "random notes" section. Another major break was when "Tom Petty offered me the opening slot in his tour," which became his "first big gigs". He even recalls playing in a "small room" in a lounge at a Holiday Inn early in his career.
Beyond family, Kravitz holds two crucial relationships. Actor Denzel Washington is "the big brother I never had," a relationship Kravitz finds "beautiful" and values for its genuineness. He describes Washington as "so smart, so gifted" and "as real as real gets," noting that the two often have "so valuable" morning exchanges, and that the Krabbitses and the Washingtons are now a "blended" family. On one occasion, after watching Malcolm X, Kravitz playfully told Washington, who hadn't seen the film since making it, "You know you were pretty good". His professional foundation rests on his relationship with his partner and guitarist, Craig Ross. They met in 1991, introduced by Kathy Valentine, the bass player of the Gogo's, who was Ross's roommate, in a pool hall on Sunset Boulevard. Since that night, they have never been separated, traveling, living, and working together. Remarkably, Kravitz asserts that in over 30 years, they have "never ever had a disagreement," an argument, "not even a little one," which he finds " unusual) given that arguing is normal in most relationships. Neither has "ever said no to the other," maintaining a "straight line of smoothness" throughout their entire relationship.
Kravitz now embraces the role of mentor to younger artists. He named a young musician named Dwayne, who just dropped an album, and a rock and roll artist called Young Blood, whom he describes as "the real thing". He notes that being a mentor is a natural progression: "if you stay in the game long enough and you are blessed with life, it happens".
