Lenny Kravitz in conversation with Jimmy Fallon
discussing his memoir, “Let Love Rule”
“I see my story as a suite of songs that have a magical connection. I never understood that connection until I sat down to write. It was then that the magic started to flow.”
LENNY KRAVITZ is singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, and ballads. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance 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. He has been nominated for and won other awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, Brit Awards, and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. He was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2011, and has played Cinna in the Hunger Games film series. In his career, Kravitz has sold over 50 million albums worldwide. His creative firm Kravitz Design Inc. touts an impressive portfolio of noteworthy ventures, with a range that includes hotel properties, condominium projects, private residences, and high-end legendary brands like Rolex, Leica and Dom Perignon. He recently released his eleventh full-length album, Raise Vibration.
Emmy Award and Grammy Award winner JIMMY FALLON is host of The Tonight Show on NBC. Prior to that he hosted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC. Fallon began his TV career with “Saturday Night Live” in 1998. Known for his spot-on impressions, hilarious sketches and his stint with Tina Fey as co-anchor of “Weekend Update,” Fallon spent six successful years on the show. See more.
Let Love Rule is a work of deep reflection. Lenny Kravitz looks back at his life with candor, self-scrutiny, and humor. “My life is all about opposites,” he writes. “Black and white. Jewish and Christian. The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. I accepted my Gemini soul. I owned it. I adored it. Yins and yangs mingled in various parts of my heart and mind, giving me balance and fueling my curiosity and comfort.”
Let Love Rule covers a vast canvas stretching from Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Los Angeles’s Baldwin Hills, Beverly Hills, and finally to France, England and Germany. It’s the story of a wildly creative kid who, despite tough struggles at school and extreme tension at home, finds salvation in music.
We see him grow as a musician and ultimately a master songwriter, producer, and performer. We also see Lenny’s spiritual growth-and the powerful way in which spirit informs his music. The cast of characters surrounding Lenny is extraordinary: his father, Sy, a high-powered news executive; his mother, Roxie Roker, a television star; and Lisa Bonet, the young actress who becomes his muse.
The central character, of course, is Lenny, who, despite his great aspirational energy, turns down record deal after record deal until he finds his true voice. The creation of that voice, the same voice that is able to declare “Let Love Rule” to an international audience, is the very heart of this story.
“Whether recording, performing, or writing a book,” says Lenny, “my art is about listening to the inspiration inside and then sharing it with people. Art must bring the world closer together.”