Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz ni Cannes in May 2009.Photo:George Pimentel/FilmMagic
George Pimentel/FilmMagic
Decades before they reached icon status,Lenny KravitzandMariah Careybecame friends.
“We met on the east side in New York, and we were around the same group of friends,” the 59-year-old “American Woman” singer tells PEOPLE of Carey, 54, whom he starred alongside in Lee Daniels' 2009 filmPrecious.
“She was working on her demos. I was working on mine. She worked at a sports bar I used to hang out at,” recalled Kravitz. “So, it’s extra special to be sharing this night with Mariah.”
Lenny Kravitz; Mariah Carey in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2024.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic (2)
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic (2)
“We used to go over to their house and hang out. She had a bunch of cats,” hetoldEntertainment Tonight, without clarifying whether the pets were Carey’s or her roommate’s.
“And I remember her playing her cassettes and me playing mine and here we are tonight on the same night, which is cool,” Kravitz said.
He and Carey both received the Recording Academy Global Impact Award, a CEO Merit Award, during the ceremony, held at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
This week, Kravitz alsoappears on the cover of PEOPLE— and he spoke about the experience on the event’s red carpet. “It’s surreal to be on the cover of PEOPLE and to be at the checkout stand,” he said, before recalling the photoshoot. “It was a fun day. [I] had a great time shooting up in the hills in Malibu.”
Lenny Kravitz accepts his award at the Recording Academy Honor in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2024.ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
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In the cover story, the Grammy winnerreflected on his early days as an aspiring rock starshopping his music to record labels in the ’80s and getting told he didn’t fit the bill as a Black artist.
“I was told my music wasn’t Black enough or wasn’t white enough,” he said, noting that regarding his eclectic musical interests, record labels “said I had to make a choice, but I never did.”
Lenny Kravitz at the Recording Academy Honors in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2024.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Kravitz added, “I was told that I need to make the music that Black people commercially are making that’s on the radio, so you’ll have success. And I just could never get with any of that. I was going to make the music that I made.”
These days, the musician — whose new albumBlue Electric Lightdrops March 22 — has proven himself and looks to both his past and present for inspiration.
“It’s sort of amazing to me that I could be where I am now and feel fresh and hungry,” said Kravitz, before revealing the best part about being a bona fide rock star: “This is who God created me to be. I’m just trying to walk in that destiny.”
source: people.com
