Lenny Kravitz was recently candid about his working relationship with The Rolling Stones hitmaker Mick Jagger. Back in 1993, Kravitz was featured on Jagger’s solo album Wandering Spirit for the cover track of Bill Withers’ “Use Me”. Kravitz was also a co-writer for the track “God Gave Me Everything” several years later in 2001 for Jagger’s Goddess in the Doorway. To put it simply, Kravitz is no stranger to working with Jagger.
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On that note, the “Fly Away” singer recently opened up about his perspective of Jagger’s true feelings on working as a solo artist. For years, there have been rumors that Jagger felt lost and without direction when he began making songs without the Stones.
Kravitz set the record straight in a recent issue of MOJO magazine.
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“No, no, no,” said Kravitz. “Mick enjoyed his solo time. For him, it was a holiday. We collaborated on Bill Withers’ Use Me for Wandering Spirit, but we wrote God Gave Me Everything on Goddess In The Doorway. I had the melody, but no words apart from a bit of chorus. He came to my Roxie studio in Miami. I mumbled some words.”
He went on to note that within half an hour, Jagger had the lyrics down on paper.
“He goes into the vocal booth and starts singing from the top to bottom perfectly,” said Kravitz. “I say, ‘My God, that was amazing,’ and he says, ‘We’ll get the real vocal later.’ He tried over and over again. Of course we used the original.”
Lenny Kravitz and Mick Jagger: Working With the Greats
When asked in the interview if the “American Woman” singer gets some kind of career validation out of working with people like Jagger (as well as Michael Jackson), he was frank about the fact that he never felt undervalued.
“First of all, I don’t need validation,” said Kravitz. “I’m not that person. I know who I am. I know what I do and I feel good about it. Then I look at the people gravitating towards me, from Michael Jackson to Mick Jagger – they all called me, remember – the legendary folk who supported me and I know they get it. I could name 50 of them. That’s my validation.”
Photo by Kevin Winter
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