Editing Lenny Kravitz (section)

==Early life==
{{Disputed section|Paternal Ancestry V3|date=February 2025}}
Kravitz was born on May 26, 1964, in [[New York City]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Famous-birthdays-for-May...Lenny-Kravitz.../2911527308588/|title=Famous birthdays for May 26: Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Nicks|work=UPI|access-date=2018-07-06|language=en|archive-date=July 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706104100/https://www.upi.com/Famous-birthdays-for-May...Lenny-Kravitz.../2911527308588/|url-status=live}}</ref> the only child of [[NBC]] television news producer Sy Kravitz (1924–2005) and actress [[Roxie Roker]] (1929–1995).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2018/music/features/musician-lenny-kravitz-1202990240/|title=Lenny Kravitz: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Star; I Wanted to Be a Musician'|last=Saval|first=Malina|date=October 26, 2018|website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|access-date=January 19, 2019|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127143532/https://variety.com/2018/music/features/musician-lenny-kravitz-1202990240/|url-status=live}}</ref> His mother came from a [[Christianity|Christian]] family that was of African-American and Bahamian descent.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4495463|work=[[NPR]]|title=Lenny Kravitz Takes Spiritual Turn on 'Baptism'|first=Scott|last=Simon|date=February 12, 2005|access-date=February 15, 2018|archive-date=October 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017225138/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4495463|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-rich-list/profile/article/the-face-t738f78zm9l|work=The Times|location=London|title=The face|first=Sophie|last=Heawood|date=January 25, 2008|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-date=January 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120043014/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-face-t738f78zm9l|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Marlow Stern|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/29/lenny-kravitz-s-black-white-album-funk-soul-r-b-with-jay-z.html|title=Lenny Kravitz's 'Black & White' Album: Funk, Soul & R&B, With Jay-Z|newspaper=The Daily Beast|date=August 29, 2011|access-date=March 31, 2012|archive-date=April 3, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403233003/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/29/lenny-kravitz-s-black-white-album-funk-soul-r-b-with-jay-z.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/lenny-kravitz-mr-love-58889.html|title=Lenny Kravitz: Mr Love|work=[[The Independent]]first=Nick|last=Duerden|date=May 7, 2004|access-date=May 8, 2018|archive-date=May 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508124810/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/lenny-kravitz-mr-love-58889.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His grandfather was [[Russian-Jewish]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackbookmag.com/music/lenny-kravitz-considers-the-unforgettable-people-whove-helped-color-his-wor-1.24443|title=Lenny Kravitz Considers the Unforgettable People Who've Helped Color His World|quote=Lenny Kravitz: Later my mother told me, "Look, I'm African-American and your father is a Russian Jew, and you should be proud of both sides, neither more than the other."|work=[[BlackBook]]|date=August 29, 2011|access-date=January 19, 2019|archive-date=November 23, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123153641/http://www.blackbookmag.com/music/lenny-kravitz-considers-the-unforgettable-people-whove-helped-color-his-wor-1.24443|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=640288231|title=Lenny Kravitz On Race, 'Raise Vibration' And Duetting With Aretha Franklin|date=August 22, 2018|website=[[NPR]]|access-date=January 18, 2019|quote=[Lenny] Kravitz: "Well, Brooklyn was just - I had Jewish grandparents - Russian Jews that were in Sheepshead Bay."|archive-date=August 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823052402/https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=640288231|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Samuels|first=Allison|url=https://www.newsweek.com/crossing-over-143567|title=CROSSING OVER|work=[[Newsweek]]|date=January 9, 2002|access-date=January 19, 2019|archive-date=January 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119230830/https://www.newsweek.com/crossing-over-143567|url-status=live}}</ref> Through his mother, Kravitz is a [[second cousin]] of television weather presenter [[Al Roker]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weisholtz |first1=Drew |title=Al Roker reunites with distant cousin Lenny Kravitz |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/al-roker-reunites-distant-cousin-lenny-kravitz-t193275 |access-date=8 November 2020 |website=Today.com |date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=October 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031083743/https://www.today.com/popculture/al-roker-reunites-distant-cousin-lenny-kravitz-t193275 |url-status=live }}</ref> as their grandfathers were brothers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.today.com/video/lenny-kravitz-gives-arch-digest-a-look-inside-his-brazil-home-1498332739754 |title=Lenny Kravitz gives Arch Digest a look inside his Brazil home |website=Today |date=April 18, 2019 |access-date=April 18, 2019 |archive-date=April 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418221334/https://www.today.com/video/lenny-kravitz-gives-arch-digest-a-look-inside-his-brazil-home-1498332739754 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kravitz was named after his uncle, [[Leonard M. Kravitz]], a [[private first class]] who was killed in action in the [[Korean War]] at the age of 20, while single-handedly holding off a Chinese attack, enabling most of his platoon to escape.<ref name="Medal">{{cite web|author=Harrison, Donald H.|url=http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/wash_dc/capitol_building/sd4-13leonard_kravitz_act.htm|title=Did anti-Semitism block medal for rocker's namesake?|publisher=San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage|date=April 13, 2001|access-date=September 25, 2011|archive-date=September 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928014834/http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/wash_dc/capitol_building/sd4-13leonard_kravitz_act.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|Leonard M. Kravitz was posthumously awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]] but was denied the [[Medal of Honor]].<ref name="Medal"/> In 2014, he received the Medal of Honor in a ceremony that awarded it to 24 servicemen who had been passed over because of their ethnicity or religion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/valor24/recipients/kravitz/ |title=Private First Class Leonard M. Kravitz &#124; Valor 24 &#124; Medal of Honor |website=Army.mil |access-date=April 19, 2014 |archive-date=April 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409004719/http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/valor24/recipients/kravitz/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

During his early years, Kravitz did not grow up in a religious environment.<ref name=telgjuly>{{cite news|author=Heath, Chris|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/5549844/Lenny-Kravitz-interview.html|title=Lenny Kravitz interview|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=June 16, 2009|access-date=October 14, 2012|archive-date=September 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120909132758/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/5549844/Lenny-Kravitz-interview.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After a spiritual experience when he was 13, he started attending church and later became a [[Nondenominational Christianity|non-denominational Christian]].<ref name=telgjuly/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bedroomsets.com.au/bedroom-sets-articles/2004/5/24/kravitz-sets-the-record-straight/|title=Kravitz Sets The Record Straight|publisher=Illawarra Mercury|date=May 24, 2004|access-date=October 14, 2012|archive-date=April 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410145036/http://www.bedroomsets.com.au/bedroom-sets-articles/2004/5/24/kravitz-sets-the-record-straight/|url-status=live}}</ref> Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the [[Upper East Side]] of Manhattan with his parents, attending [[P.S. 6]] for elementary school, and spending weekends at his grandmother Bessie's house in the [[Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn|Bedford-Stuyvesant]] neighborhood of [[Brooklyn]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Sandall|first=Robert|date=March 5, 1991|title=Fancy Seeing You here!|journal=Q Magazine|volume=55|pages=50–52}}</ref>

Kravitz began banging on pots and pans in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three. He decided that he wanted to be a musician at the age of five. He began playing the drums and soon added guitar. He grew up listening to the music his parents listened to: [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]], [[jazz]], classical, opera, [[gospel music|gospel]], and [[blues]]. He said, "My parents were very supportive of the fact that I loved music early on, and they took me to a lot of shows."<ref>{{cite web|first=Steve|last=Hosley|url=https://michronicleonline.com/2014/10/15/spotlight-lenny-kravitz/|title=Spotlight: Lenny Kravitz|work=[[Michigan Chronicle]]|date=October 15, 2014|access-date=May 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041246/https://michronicleonline.com/2014/10/15/spotlight-lenny-kravitz/|archive-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Henderson2002">Henderson. (2002).</ref> Around the age of seven, he saw [[the Jackson 5]] perform at [[Madison Square Garden]], and they became his favorite performers.<ref name="guardian2002">Hodgkinson, Will (July 5, 2002). "[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/jul/05/artsfeatures2 Home entertainment: Lenny Kravitz] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107004735/http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0%2C3605%2C749062%2C00.html |date=January 7, 2008 }}". ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref> His father, who was a jazz promoter, was friends with [[Duke Ellington]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], [[Count Basie]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Bobby Short]], [[Miles Davis]], and other jazz greats; Ellington played "Happy Birthday" for him on his fifth birthday.<ref>{{cite web|first=Hardeep|last=Phull|url=https://nypost.com/2014/09/27/lenny-kravitz-my-childhood-new-york/|title=Lenny Kravitz: My childhood New York|work=[[New York Post]]|date=September 27, 2014|access-date=May 8, 2018|quote=Lenny Kravitz: "It was my fifth birthday and my parents took me to see Duke Ellington here. At the sound check, I sat on his lap and during the show, he and his band played ‘Happy Birthday’ to me."|archive-date=November 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123112821/https://nypost.com/2014/09/27/lenny-kravitz-my-childhood-new-york/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ebony1994"/><ref>{{cite web|first=Steve|last=Hosley|url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-lenny-kravitz|title=NEW AGAIN: LENNY KRAVITZ|work=[[Interview (magazine)|Interview Magazine]]|date=November 20, 2012|access-date=May 21, 2018|quote=Lenny Kravitz: "My dad was a producer on the side. I think he did one of Patti Austin’s first recordings, when she was around 13 years old. My dad used to take me to jazz concerts. I got to sit on Duke Ellington’s lap when he played."|archive-date=April 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401181611/https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-lenny-kravitz|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1974, at the age of 10, Kravitz relocated to Los Angeles with his parents when his mother landed her role on ''[[The Jeffersons]]''.<ref name=":0" /> At his mother's urging, he joined the California Boys Choir for three years, where he performed a classical repertoire, and sang with the [[Metropolitan Opera]]. He took part in [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]'s [[Symphony No. 3 (Mahler)|Third Symphony]] at the [[Hollywood Bowl]].<ref name=":0" /> It was in Los Angeles that Kravitz was introduced to rock music, listening to [[the Beatles]], [[the Rolling Stones]], [[Led Zeppelin]], [[Jimi Hendrix]], the [[Grateful Dead]], [[Aerosmith]], [[Black Sabbath]], [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]], [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]], [[Pink Floyd]], and [[the Who]],<ref name="guardian2002" /> and he said he was "attracted to the cool style, the girls, the rock 'n' roll lifestyle."<ref name="guardian2002" /> During his junior high school years, he was also introduced to marijuana; he has stated that he was a "pothead" during his youth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/lenny-kravitz-book-excerpt-let-love-rule-1051298/|title=Lenny Kravitz Discovers Weed and Led Zeppelin on the Same Day in New Memoir Excerpt|first=Lenny|last=Kravitz|website=Rollingstone.com|date=September 22, 2020|access-date=July 19, 2021}}</ref> His other musical influences at the time included [[Fela Kuti]], [[Bill Withers]], [[Marvin Gaye]], [[Pharoah Sanders]], and [[Miles Davis]].<ref name="guardian2002"/> Later influences came in the form of [[John Lennon]] and [[Bob Marley]]. Kravitz attended [[Beverly Hills High School]], where he was classmates with [[Maria McKee]], [[Nicolas Cage]], and [[Slash (musician)|Slash]]. He taught himself to play piano and bass and made friends with [[Zoro (drummer)|Zoro]], who would later become his long-time collaborator.<ref>Evans, Mia "[http://www.cbn.com/cbnmusic/interviews/Zoro113006.aspx The Faith of Zoro] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530201302/http://www.cbn.com/cbnmusic/interviews/Zoro113006.aspx |date=May 30, 2016 }}". ''CBN.com''. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.</ref> His parents divorced in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lenny-kravitz-honors-mother-roxie-160030704.html|title = Lenny Kravitz Honors Late Mother Roxie Roker in New Memoir Let Love Rule : 'I Was a Mama's Boy'|first=Brianne |last=Tracy|website=Yahoo.com| date=October 1, 2020 }}</ref>