For many people, there’s that one band or one artist who has a profound impact on them. ForLenny Kravitz, that wasLed Zeppelin.
“I was cutting class with my friend, another Black Jewish kid, and she rolled this really nice joint, and I had never been high before. This guy had a boom box playingZeppelin IV, and I was reborn,” Kravitz recalls of his childhood moment in Santa Monica, California, listening to the 1971 album — the band’s fourth untitled record at the time, which became commonly known asLed Zeppelin IVfollowing the first three similarly titled releases.
While the album is largely known for introducing the now-influential song, “Stairway to Heaven,” it was the lead track, “Black Dog,” that hooked Kravitz at the time “with this great riff,” he says.
Lenny Kravitz on the cover of PEOPLE.Melodie McDaniel
Melodie McDaniel
Listening to the record — and the band — proved to be monumental for Kravitz, who up until that time only cited groups like the Jackson 5 for giving him his first taste of rock and roll. (“Those were rock stars — young, Black rock stars doing it to the fullest,” he says of the family quintet.)
The singer — who is known for fusing rock, funk, reggae, soul and R&B into his own music — says, “When I heard it, this vortex opened up.”
Lenny Kravitz for PEOPLE.Melodie McDaniel
But it’s Led Zeppelin’s influence that can be heard in Kravitz’s extended discography, from his 1993 breakthrough albumAre You Gonna Go My Way— which features the Grammy Award-nominated title track — to his 12th studio albumBlue Electric Light, which drops on March 15.
For more on Lenny Kravitz’s life and loves, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, available on newsstands everywhere now.
source: people.com
