The 66th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 4, at the Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles.
As part of the lead up to the music industry's big night of accolades, which will be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, Lenny Kravitz was among the honorees to receive the Global Impact Award at the Recording Academy Honors presented by the Black Music Collective at the Fairmont Century Plaza on Thursday in Los Angeles.
The Global Impact Award is a CEO Merit Award that recognizes Black music creators whose dedication to the art form has greatly influenced the industry, according to the Grammy Awards website.
Honorees are recognized for their inspirational legacy of service and celebrated for the myriad ways recipients' leadership and passion has empowered others to embrace authenticity and contribute to positive change.
With a career that dates back to the mid-1980s, the always cool and fashionable rocker did not disappoint once again when he stepped out in front of photographers gathered along the red carpet portion of the pre-Grammy event.
Lenny Kravitz, 59, was rock star cool in black leather when he received he Global Impact Award at the Recording Academy Honors presented by the Black Music Collective at the Fairmont Century Plaza on Thursday in Los Angeles
Kravitz, 59, made his grand arrival in an all-black ensemble consisting of fitted shiny leather pants and a cropped leather jacket over a white cropped shirt that he left unbuttoned to nearly his naval.
In an added touch, he matched the shirt with a white scarf that he had hanging around his neck all the way down past his waistline.
The New York City native also wore a pair of pointed black leather boots, and accessorized with shiny dark mirror sunglasses, studded belts, an assortment of rings, earrings and bracelets.
Rounding out every one of his looks in recent years, as well as back in his earlier days, were his long dreads that fell over his shoulders and down to about the middle of his back.
The fashion icon first grew out his locks into dreads back in the late 1980s, and kept them long and flowing until he decided to cut them off in 2000.
The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist first gained recognition for his music when he was known as Romeo Blue, but by the time he dropped his debut studio album, Let Love Rule (1989) he had adopted his given name once again.
A combination of rock and funk with a 1960s retro vibe, initially critics were torn between him being a gifted new artist, while others thought he relied too much on his musical influence of the 60s-70s.
Then wife Lisa Bonet, who had been riding the success of The Cosby Show at the time, ended up directing the debut music video for the title track, Let Love Rule, which would also lean on the Flower Power look of yesteryear.
Always one to have a cool fashion touch, the Fly Away rocker accessorized with studded belts, mirror sunglasses, rings, earrings and white cropped shirt open to nearly his naval
Kravitz's recording career kicked off with his acclaimed debut Let Love Rule (1989), that contained five singles including the title track, Build This Garden For Us, and Mr. Cab Driver
Straight out of the gate, Kravitz presented his art as a virtual one-man show, writing and producing all the songs and playing nearly ever instrument that includes guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and vocals.
While Let Love Rule reached number 61 on the Billboard 200 and number 56 on the UK Albums Chart, Kravitz had his sights set on expanding his music with added touches of R&B, reggae, hard rock and soul, to go along with his retro rock and funk style already in tact.
The follow up - Mama Said (1991) - would put any doubts of his songwriting prowess to rest while earning him full on rock star credentials by selling enough copies to be certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association Od America (RIAA), which was due in part to the power of the seven singles released, beginning with Always On The Run.
He further cemented his rock star status with the release of nine more studio albums, through the three decades until Raise Vibration (2018).
The New York City native, who also grew up in Los Angeles, is now preparing to drop his twelfth studio album - Blue Electric Light - on March 15 by Roxie Records with distribution handled by BMG Rights Management.
In the lead up to the new record, the rocker released the first single, TK421, this past October.
Kravitz's then wife Lisa Bonet directed the music video for the first single and title track for Let Love Rule (1989); the former couple (pictured in April 1988, were married for about six years until they divorced in 1993
Kravitz recorded the album in his studio in the Bahamas, and as usual played most of the instruments himself with frequent collaborator and guitarist Craig Ross contributing.
During his acclaimed career Kravitz has been nominated for nine Grammys, winning for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four times in a row for Fly Away (1999), American Woman (2000), Again (2001) and Dig In (2002).
His hit songs over the years include the likes of Are You Gonna Go My Way, Fly Away, Always On The Run, Stand By My Woman, It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over, Believe, American Woman, Black And White America, What the F**k Are We Saying?, Rock And Roll Is Dead, Black Velveteen, Mr. Cab Driver, Can't Get You Off My Mind, Heaven Help and Dig In.
All those hit tunes helped the musician to sell more than 40 million albums worldwide.
During his acclaimed career Kravitz has been nominated for nine Grammys, winning for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four times in a row for Fly Away (1999), American Woman (2000), Again (2001) and Dig In (2002); he is pictured in 1992
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards, which will honor the best recordings, compositions, and artists from October 1, 2022, to September 15, 2023, will be broadcast on CBS this Sunday and be available to stream on Paramount +.
Along with Kravitz, Mariah Carey was also presented with the Recording Academy Global Impact Award at the third annual Recording Academy Honors Presented Presented by the Black Music Collective.
There's also a third musical artist who will also receive the honor but that name has yet to be announced.
Just last year, the 2023 recipients of the Recording Academy Global Impact Award included Grammy Award-winning musical artists Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne and music executive Sylvia Rhone.
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