Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the
Upper East Side of Manhattan with his parents, and weekends at
his grandmother Bessie Roker's house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant
neighborhood of Brooklyn. Kravitz began banging on pots and pans
in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three. At
the age of five, he wanted to be a musician. He began playing
the drums and soon added guitar. Kravitz grew up listening to
the music his parents listened to: R&B, jazz, classical, opera,
gospel, and blues. "My parents were very supportive of the fact
that I loved music early on, and they took me to a lot of
shows," Kravitz said. Around the age of 7, he saw The Jackson 5
perform at Madison Square Garden, which became his favorite
group. His father, who was also a jazz promoter, was friends
with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella
Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Miles Davis and other jazz greats.
Ellington even played "Happy Birthday" for him one year when he
was about 5. He was exposed to the soul music of Motown, Stax,
James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Curtis
Mayfield, Gladys Knight, The Isley Brothers and Gamble and Huff
growing up, key influences on his musical style. Kravitz often
went to see New York theater, where his mother worked. His
mother encouraged his dreams of pursuing music.
In 1974, the Kravitz family relocated to Los
Angeles when Kravitz's mother landed her role on The
Jeffersons. At his mother's urging, Kravitz joined the
California Boys Choir for three years, where he performed a
classical repertoire, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera. He
performed in Mahler's Third Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl. It
was in Los Angeles that Kravitz was first introduced to rock
music, listening to Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix,
Pink Floyd, Cream, and The Who. "I was attracted to the cool
style, the girls, the rock 'n' roll lifestyle," Kravitz said.
Kravitz's other musical influences at the time included Fela
Kuti, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye and Miles Davis; John Lennon and
Bob Marley proved later to be influential as well. Kravitz
attended Beverly Hills High School. Maria McKee and guitarist
Saul Hudson (better known as Slash) were his classmates. In
1978, Kravitz was accepted into the school's well-respected
music program. He taught himself to play piano and bass, and
made friends with Zoro who would later become his long-time
collaborator. Kravitz wanted to be a session musician. He also
appeared as an actor in television commercials during this time.
Kravitz went to school enough to pass, but was
spending more and more time jamming with friends. His parents
became concerned, wanting him to have something to fall back on.
At the age of 15, determined to have a music career, Kravitz
moved out of his house. He stayed with friends, slept in
friends' cars, and at one point was even sleeping in his Ford
Pinto. Inspired by David Bowie, Kravitz adopted the nom de
guerre, "Romeo Blue," a new persona complete with straightened
hair and blue contact lenses, and began performing. Kravitz's
music at this time was heavily influenced by the synth-laden
funk pop of Prince. In 1982, Kravitz graduated from Beverly
Hills
High School and convinced his father to give him money to
record instead of spending money on college. With his first
demo, Kravitz received offers from several record labels,
including I.R.S. Records, but Kravitz was told he needed to
change his music to make it "black enough" to fit in with
current radio-friendly R & B styles. "I refused," Kravitz told
the Los Angeles Times in 1989.
