Author Topic: Nessa and lenny Kravitz  (Read 2236 times)

saphire

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Nessa and lenny Kravitz
« on: June 02, 2004, 04:21:24 am »
On vanessacarlton.info someone postet an article where they say that Nessa realy works with him

Here's an article which states that Lenny Kravitz produced and/or wrote for Vanessa! Anyone know more about this or do you guys think the author made a mistake?

"Baptism" reflects post-depression Lenny Kravitz

By Gary Graff
The New York Times

Lenny Kravitz's new album, "Baptism," opens on a tongue-in-cheek note with the song "I Don't Want to Be a Star." But the fact is, like it or not, Kravitz is a star.

The son of television producer Sy Kravitz and the late actress Roxie Roker, Kravitz has fashioned a 13-year career laden with platinum albums and a string of hits, as well as four consecutive Grammy Awards from 1998 to 2001 for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

He's produced and written for newcomers such as Vanessa Carlton and Cree Summer, plus established artists from Mick Jagger to Madonna.

Given this track record, he could be excused for being overly happy. But Kravitz says that many of the songs on "Baptism" deal frankly with a heavy bout of depression from which he was "reborn" prior to making the album.

"It was just a lot of things in my life, I think," he says. "Not accepting myself, not being happy about certain things in my personal life, just things that got me in a rut."

Kravitz, 40, is a New York native who spent part of his childhood in California, where he attended high school with future Guns N' Roses guitarist Saul "Slash" Hudson. He has a 15-year-old daughter from his marriage to actress Lisa Bonet, which ended in 1991, and more recently has been linked to actress Nicole Kidman.

Depression hit him particularly hard in summer 2002, Kravitz says, when he was on tour with Pink to promote his album "Lenny" (2001).

"That was my hardest tour to get through," he recalls. "After the gig I'd go back to sleep, and I would sleep the entire day until the show the next day. I basically drew the curtains and stayed in these little hotel rooms, and the only time I came out was to do the show. You can imagine, after a year of that, it's pretty bad.

"I definitely went and did some therapy and talked a lot of things out," Kravitz says. "And when you come out of something, you see where you've been and you see where you want to go, and it's just like, 'Wow, I'm out of that and I just feel reborn!"' "Baptism" was actually born of an entirely different project.

Despite - or perhaps because of - his depression, Kravitz was working on what he calls "an intentional funk record, a really funky, psychedelic, dirty, kind of basement record" that he says he'll finish at some point. But as his mind cleared and his spirits improved, he knew that it wasn't the kind of music he wanted to be making at the moment.

"I completely stopped that record and began this one," Kravitz says, "because it was like, 'This is now, this is fresh. This is what I'm feeling, what I've just gone through, and I need to let it out."'

And though the singer/songwriter says that he doesn't really look for unifying themes in his albums while he's making them, he admits that "Baptism" is intended to convey positive messages to its listeners.

"I can only write what I'm feeling," Kravitz says. "Just getting through what I went through, knowing that life is precious and each moment should be lived to its fullest, those kinds of confirmations just lead to those kinds of songs."

Crafted at Kravitz's home studio in Miami and at a facility he owns in New York's Edison Hotel, where Duke Ellington and other jazz greats used to record, "Baptism" finds him treading some new creative ground. The most striking innovation is "Storm," which features a guest appearance from rapper Jay-Z, who had previously hosted Kravitz on "Guns & Roses," a track from his album "The Blueprint2: The Gift & the Curse" (2002).

It marks Kravitz's first foray into rap on one of his own albums.

"I've never tried to do anything to try to fit any time or trend or what's popular," he says. "I only do what the songs want and need. I thought (Jay-Z) would have the right flow, the right feeling, for the track, but I wasn't sure if he was where I was.

"I said, 'You do know that this song is about God,"' he recalls. "And he's like 'Ohhh.' He was actually starting to go in the direction of thinking about a girl. Once he got that, he started over on it. He just listened to it over and over and over, and had his head down on a desk, listening and listening. Then he walked out and just nailed it in one take. It was pretty impressive."

Kravitz also briefly butted heads with Virgin Records after he delivered "Baptism." Virgin executives said that they didn't hear a hit.

He eventually agreed to go back and create the "one more slammin' track" they were asking for. The result was "Minister of Rock 'n' Roll," a good-humored "rock-'n'-roll fantasy thing" that nevertheless reflects the anger he felt at having to create it in the first place.

Ironically, though Virgin liked the new track, one of the existing songs, "Where Are We Runnin'?" wound up being selected as the first single.

As with his previous albums, Kravitz made most of "Baptism" himself, playing all the instruments except for occasional contributions from guest stars such as his touring guitarist Craig Ross or saxophonists Henry Hirsch and David Sanborn.

He took a spare approach to the instrumentation but did pay careful attention to the flow of the music as he recorded the individual parts.

"I know where everybody's going because I am everybody, man," he says with a laugh. "I like doing it that way."



Is someone able to give more informations about that cos im realy interested in that. So i wait for answers!!!! :)
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JazzyManda

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Nessa and lenny Kravitz
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2004, 07:17:04 am »
maybe he wrote like some of the score for her... or something...

Amanda

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Nessa and lenny Kravitz
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2004, 08:57:17 am »
Quote from: "JazzyManda"
maybe he wrote like some of the score for her... or something...

Amanda


Yeah, cuz he definitely didn't write for her!  :lol:

saphire

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its true
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2004, 09:10:11 am »
I just saw a report about Lenny on Mtv News (Germany) where they said that he has written together with the talented Vanessa Carlton (showing a short part of the ODvid) for her forthcoming album Harmonium. then they change the topic and talked about lanneys concert yesterday in Germany. im a little bit happy that its true cos i think lenny is really talented and cool 8) .
The unicorns are riding high
Powerful in coats of white
I turn to look and burn my eyes
I carry on, I carry on
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Check out my new songs on:
http://www.myspace.com/saphiresound

Alecs

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Re: its true
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2004, 02:38:48 pm »
Quote from: "saphire"
I just saw a report about Lenny on Mtv News (Germany) where they said that he has written together with the talented Vanessa Carlton (showing a short part of the ODvid) for her forthcoming album Harmonium. then they change the topic and talked about lanneys concert yesterday in Germany. im a little bit happy that its true cos i think lenny is really talented and cool 8) .


true dat! 8)
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