HOLLYWOOD: Lenny Kravitz was joined by his daughter Zoë Kravitz and longtime friend Denzel Washington on Tuesday as the rocker was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The 59-year-old star credited his Hollywood start to Norman Lear, who picked his mother Roxie Roker to star on “The Jeffersons.” Kravitz said he moved away from home at age 15 and made his own way on the streets of Los Angeles.
“I will forever be grateful to this city for that. I used to walk these very streets because the action in the grit that I was missing in New York was right here in Hollywood. As a teenager, I spent a lot of time walking up and down Hollywood Boulevard, seeing the names of all my idols. I never dreamt about having a star. I was usually just looking for a place to crash. But I did dream about making the music I wanted and doing my own thing. To see my name, Lenny Kravitz, permanently engraved on the same streets I used to walk. It’s a surreal, indescribable feeling,” Kravitz said.
“We have been tied together for a long time,” said Washington. “We’re close friends. We are brothers. I love Lenny Kravitz. I love Lenny Kravitz. I love Lenny Kravitz l ike I’ve loved no other brother in my life.”
“The Jeffersons” star Marla Gibbs, who is 92, was among those on hand for the event, along with Zoë Kravitz’s fiance Channing Tatum. Kravitz said it was “mind blowing” to have her and others who were with him at the start of his career be gathered in one place.
He said he couldn’t help but “go his own way” in the music industry.
“It was within my heart. I didn’t know any other way. I really didn’t. I turned down a lot of record deals, that, you know, wanted me to change my music. And I knew that there was something special that I needed to do, but I didn’t have it yet,” he said.
Africanews with AP
