Inside Out

Lenny Kravitz WORKSHEET A

L
enny Kravitz was born on May 26th in Brooklyn, New York. His mother Roxie
Roker was an actress and his father Sy Kravitz is a TV news producer. Lenny
spent his childhood in New York. When he was eleven years old, the family
moved to Los Angeles because his mother, who was originally from the Bahamas, was
cast in a comedy called The Jeffersons about a rich black family living in Manhattan.

As he was growing up, Lenny taught himself how to play a number of musical instruments
and sang in the famous California Boys Choir. He attended Beverley Hills High School
but was not a brilliant student. When he first heard the music of Prince he decided to
finish with the choir and concentrate on rock and roll. While still at high school, Lenny
chose Romeo Blue as his stage name and started performing locally. After graduating he
was still keen to follow a career in music. His father gave him money and helped him to
get a recording contract. It was at this time, in 1985, that his parents divorced.

The following year Lenny met actress Lisa Bonet, who was in a comedy called The Cosby
Show about a rich black family living in New York. They became a couple and married in
1987. Lenny dropped the name Romeo Blue and started performing under his own name.
In 1988 Lisa gave birth to a daughter who they named Zoe. The following year Lenny
released his debut album, Let Love Rule, which was successful.

As Lenny’s career took off, he was more and more in demand. He found it difficult to
resist pretty women and while he was producing Madonna’s song Justify My Love, there
were rumours that the two of them were having an affair. Lisa left Lenny and divorced
him two years later. Lenny was too busy enjoying himself to care. His hit It Ain’t Over
‘Til It’s Over went platinum almost overnight and established him as a superstar.

Lenny has written songs for all of the special women in his life; for Zoe he wrote Little
Girl’s Eyes and for his mother, who died in 1995, he wrote the emotional Thinking Of
You. More recently he had a relationship with Australian actress Nicole Kidman and wrote
a song for her too, which is on his latest album (released on May 18th 2004). There were
stories that the couple were going to get married after Nicole was seen wearing a huge
ring on her finger. Sadly though Lenny was photographed getting a little bit too friendly
with another woman at a party and it was all over.

Lenny has now returned to his house/recording studio in Biscayne Bay, Miami, where he
goes to relax between tours. His house has been featured in a lot of magazines. The style
is retro seventies Austin Powers meets futuristic disco. It is very unusual with its fur lined
tunnels and fur lined floors but both Lenny and Zoe love it and insist that all guests
remove their shoes before entering.

This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net. It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.
Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2004.
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Lenny Kravitz crossword WORKSHEET B

Answer the questions. Write the answers in the crossword to reveal a) the name of
Lenny Kravitz’s latest album and b) the song from his latest album which he wrote
for __________ (the answer to clue 10).

1. Where was Lenny Kravitz born? (8)

2. Where was his mother from? (7)
3. What does his father do? (2,4,8)
4. How is Zoe related to Lenny? She is his … (8)
5. Where did Lenny go to high school? (7,5)
6. Who did Lenny marry? (4,5)
7. What was Lenny’s stage name? (5,4)
8. What was Lenny’s first album called? (3,4,4)
9. Which pop superstar employed Lenny as her producer? (7)
10. Who was the actress that he recently had a relationship with? (6,6)
11. Where in Miami does Lenny live? (8,3)

a) 1
2
3
4 Y
5
6
7 L
M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M
b) 8
9
10
11

This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net. It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.
Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2004.