‘I was turned away by record companies because my music wasn’t black enough’

His daughter is also set to star in a reboot of ‘High Fidelity’

Lenny Kravitz has revealed that he was often turned away by record companies during the early part of his career because his music “wasn’t black enough”.

The musician approached a number of record companies with his unique brand of pyschedelic funk rock, but he claims they weren’t interested.

He told Variety magazine: ”I just knew that I was singing and performing my truth. This was a time right after everybody in the music industry was telling me that I couldn’t do this sort of thing. I would take my music around to the labels, and I would get the whole ‘It’s not black enough’ [response].

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”So people were not into the music that I was making or didn’t know how to sell it or how to market it. I was offered deals if I would simply change my music. I never took the deal. I wanted to do my thing.”

Kravitz revealed that things got so bad that he had to resort to living in his car.

He added: “I had no money. I’m young and in my late teens and who wouldn’t take the money, but there was just something inside of me that wouldn’t let me do it.”

Kravitz also said when he did eventually make it with breakthrough hit ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way in 1993’, he never wanted fame.

He added: “By the time I made it, that side never affected me. It was always about being humble and being grateful. I never said I wanted to be a star. I always said I wanted to be a musician. It was always based on art, not how many records I would sell or how big the arenas were going to be.”

Meanwhile, Kravitz’s daughter Zoe is set to star in a reboot of High Fidelity. The 10-episode series will reimagine the story of navel-gazing music store owner Rob Gordon from a female perspective.