Lenny Kravitz Biography

However, having set his sights on a musical career, Kravitz's first main obstacle to overcome was the dreaded American pigeonhole - he was either considered 'too black' or 'too white' by the A&R apartheid enforcers. What can't have helped was that Kravitz had for some time been working under the stage name 'Romeo Blue', probably trying to emulate Bowie and Prince, but in the end having given himself a nom de plume that sounded more like the title of a gay porn movie. Luckily he stuck to it, and after the birth of his daughter Zoë in 1988, had enough self-belief to operate under his own name. Crucially, he also found a friend in the shape of recording engineer Henry Hirsch, who would enable Kravitz to mould the sounds he wanted.

Debut album 'Let Love Rule' was released in 1989, and was so retro in feel that some found themselves wondering who this previously undiscovered act from the 1960s was - and the title track performed well in the states and beyond. In fact, Kravitz's early success in Europe far outdid anything he had achieved at home, perhaps due the fact that the public and critics had a bit more of an open mind about a multi-racial, multi-influenced retro style of performer. Although Kravitz may have been somewhat derided for his old-school sounds, he was far more than some musical Womble, making good use of what others had left behind - rather, he set the trend for what was to come in the industry for the 1990s, a return of sorts to song-craft and musicianship (with the odd flared trouser and strange baggy hat thrown in for good measure).

Kravitz also found the time to write a hit for someone else: he co-wrote Madonna's sleazy, slutty 'Justify My Love' in 1990, as well as producing, writing and performing on Vanessa Paradis' self titled album the following year. However, whilst he had been enjoying himself career-wise with women, his personal life had taken a hit - he split up with and eventually divorced Bonet, amidst unhelpful rumours of having had an affair with Madonna (which he denied).

He came back strongly with second album 'Mama Said' (1991), arguably a more rounded piece of work than his debut, and containing several winning, catchy singles. As well as the classic soul balladry of 'It Ain't Over Til Its Over', 'Always on the Run' was a particular highlight: a riff-heavy, funky strut, it sounds more than a bit like Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition', albeit cranked up to 11 on the Marshall stack and played by Guns 'N Roses axe-meister Slash (who guested on the track, incidentally).

'Are You Gonna Go My Way', his third album, came out in 1993, and emulated the success of Kravitz's earlier work. The title track was another piece of guitar-laden riffology, and highlighted for the first time the lead guitarist Craig Ross, with whom Kravitz has worked consistently since. The song's popularity (boosted greatly by an award-winning accompanying video) showed not only that people had not wearied of some old-fashioned rock, but also that Kravitz was rather good at it.

However, follow-up album 'Circus' (1995) did not capture the imagination of the buying public in quite the same way. The album's first track, single 'Rock and Roll Is Dead', was somewhat ironically titled - given that despite a two-year break, Kravitz had come back with essentially an inferior, less catchy retread of the guitar work on 'Are You Gonna Go My Way', the moderate success of 'Circus' could nearly have been a fatal wound to Kravitz's career.

Still, fifth album, imaginatively titled '5' (1998) showed that Kravitz was capable of adapting to changing circumstances. The traditional feel was left in a siding for a while, and he introduced more sampling, drum-looping and knob-twiddling on '5', and scored his biggest single success to date, the electro-rocking single 'Fly Away' (which was helped no end by being used on numerous advertising campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic). Later releases of the album also featured Kravitz's cover version of 'American Woman' (originally by 'The Guess Who'), which had been used in the soundtrack to the Austin Powers sequel, 'The Spy Who Shagged Me'.

After releasing a 15-track Greatest Hits (2000), Kravitz also won his third consecutive Grammy award for best male vocal for new single 'Again' (which had featured on that hits album). Next album 'Lenny' was released in November 2001, and seemed to be a return to his earlier form (although the seriously pouty cover photo may have put off any potential buyers that are bothered by that kind of thing). He was still clearly deploying the old rocky influences, but this was more of a balanced album than 'Circus' or '5', and seventh LP 'Baptism' (2004) enjoyed further success, off the back of stand out single 'Lady', which reached the US top ten.

After another hiatus, Kravitz returned in 2007 with a cover of John Lennon's 'Cold Turkey' for an Amnesty International record in aid of the Darfur region, and then announced that February 2008 will see the release of his latest album, 'It Is Time for A Love Revolution' - and fans of his pout will not be disappointed with the album sleeve, either... although the latest cover shot does bear more than a passing resemblance to a young OJ Simpson. Maybe he was going for that look?

• Lenny Kravitz Discography