Circus
Lenny Kravitz
American “retro” rocker, Lenny Kravitz’s style has been compared to such greats as Prince and Jimi Hendrix. His career boasts multi-platinum albums, four consecutive Grammy awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and over 40 million album sales globally.
Kravitz’s influence also reaches his peers. His collaborative efforts read more like a Hollywood A-List party - Jay-Z, Aerosmith, Mick Jagger and P. Diddy amongst others.
In the 80s, Kravitz worked under the stage name Romeo Blue. He developed a demo but was told he wasn’t “black enough” to compete with the RnB styles that dominated the radio airwaves at the time. Undeterred and without a label, Kravitz decided to started work on an album and managed to attract the attention of Virgin Records.
Within a few years, he traded the Shakespearian nom de plume for a freshly signed Virgin Records contract and released his debut album Let Love Rule in 1989 to mixed reviews.
In the first few years of the 90s, Kravitz spent writing and producing for other artists including Madonna’s Justify My Love but also experienced his first chart success with second album Mama Said. This album featured a song titled It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over and collaborations with Guns 'N' Roses’ Slash and Beatles’ Offspring, Sean Lennon.
In 1993, Are You Gonna Go My Way was released and reached #12 on the Billboard charts and won Kravitz a BRIT award. He followed up with Circus in 1995 which hit #10 despite it only having two moderately successful singles.
In 1998, Kravitz exploded onto the mainstream music scene with his fifth album, suitably named 5, thanks to the hit single Fly Away. This song helped make the album multi-platinum, featured on advertisements and secured Kravitz his first Grammy in 1999.
Success continued in 2001 with an award-winning, cover version of the Guess Who’s American Woman for the second Austin Powers movie soundtrack.
CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE UNIQUE LENNY KRAVITZ VIDEOS
Kravitz subsequently released three more studio albums and became more involved in other projects like political activism, acting and collaboration. He also established his own record label named Roxie Records and a design company aptly named Kravitz Designs. In an era of throwaway music careers, Kravitz has proven his critics wrong with a three decade long career that continues to flourish.
Juanita Appleby
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
Why Not Check Out:
Jimi Hendrix
Prince
Stevie Wonder
Drugs, Drugs & Rock N Roll
Rokpool's Official Merchandise Store
TAKE THAT
The 'boy' band, Take That, have become one of the most popular outfits in British history. Going from cheesy boy band pomp to well-respected songwriters and performers, in the music scene, at least. In 2008 Take That’s “The Circus” album sold 432,490 copies in its first week, which was the third highest opening week in history of the UK album chart. Take That are the solidified comeback kid’s, after a ten year hiatus from the pop charts, Take That shone through the shadow of former band member Robbie Williams to create their own piece of history.
Take That were formed in the spring of 1990 by artist manager Nigel Martin-Smith, as a British, boys next door, alternative to the American boy band ‘New Kids On The Block’. Martin-Smith advertised in the local newspaper for Singers and dancers for a new boy band, after meeting singer-songwriter Gary Barlow, who the band would initially be built around. The band consisted of five members; Gary Barlow (Lead Singer-Songwriter), Mark Owen (Singer/Dancer), Robbie Williams (Singer/ Dancer), Howard Donald (Dancer) and Jason Orange (Dancer). After Two years of extensive touring everywhere from gay clubs to high schools, Take That had there first U.K top 10 hit single, when a cover of ‘It Only Takes A Minute Girl’ reached number 7, this would mark the arrival of Take That and the beginning of what would turn out to be an extremely successful 4-5 years dominating the charts.
CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE UNIQUE TAKE THAT VIDEOS
For the next five years Take That had eight number 1 records including: “Pray”, “Everything Changes”, “Never Forget” and “Back For Good” to name a few of their hits (all penned by Gary Barlow). All was going swell until cheeky chappy Robbie Williams left the group on less than good terms. On the 13th of February 1996 the band split up. Gary Barlow would pursue a solo career, as did Robbie Williams. They did battle in the press, a battle that Robbie comprehensibly won, he would go on to become the most successful male artist of all time, Gary would disappear from the limelight.
In 2005, a biographical documentary called “For The Record”, catapulted Take That back into the limelight and re-sparked the publics interest in the band. In May 2006 Take That released the ‘Beautiful World’ album (without Robbie), which went straight to number 1 in the album charts and would eventually go on to sell 2.6 million copies.
Take That returned to the charts with a bang and followed this success with “The Circus” album and a record breaking live tour in the U.K. Unusually for a group like Take That, they were able to keep hold of the teenage fans they gained with their first bout of success (who have since grown up), as well as a new younger generation of fans, discovering their splendour for the first time.
Robbie Williams has rejoined the band and they continue to tour and release records
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
