Interview

KRAVITZ: There are no breaks, no off seasons, there’s none of that for you. How do you keep all of this going without it affecting your personal, family life? Because I know family is the most important thing for you.

VERSACE: My family is the most important. I’m Italian, so you know that. I think it was harder when my children were little. But I try to spend as much quality time as I can with my family. They understand what world they were born into, but it’s still very difficult. There’s a lot of tension during the creative process. It’s a great process, but there is a lot of insecurity—and there are a lot of deadlines. To forget all of that and go home and have a nice time with your family . . . Sometimes that’s very difficult. You can’t be two different people.

KRAVITZ: I know what that’s like. When I’m working on music, I’m in the studio all day and night, and when I come home, I want to sleep. But the minute I hit the pillow, everything comes into my head about what I was doing all day . . .

VERSACE: And you want to get up and change everything. “Is it okay? Should I do something else?”

KRAVITZ: It’s incredibly intense. So what is inspiring you these days? Anything in the entire world?

VERSACE: Well, of course, art influences me, because contemporary art is everywhere these days. But you know very well what my main influence is—it’s music. It lifts the spirit. I am always listening to music. And sometimes what inspires me is a little sound or some small arrangement. I really do listen to music continuously all day long—very loud, so people can’t stand to be around me anymore. [laughs] Don’t ask me which music, because of course I listen to you. And I listen to a lot of classical. I listen to a lot of pop music. I listen to Metallica. I love all kinds.

KRAVITZ: I do, too. I go to the opera, the ballet. I listen to folk music.

VERSACE: It’s in the contrast where things start to happen.

KRAVITZ: Do you like to cook?

VERSACE: No. [laughs] I’m Italian, but I’m not that Italian. I don’t cook, no.

KRAVITZ: I was picturing you making Sunday lunch at your beautiful house.

VERSACE: No. [laughs]

KRAVITZ: I find cooking to be the one thing that relaxes me. I don’t get to do it often . . . mostly when my family’s together, when we’re in the Bahamas, and we’re all together. It’s nice to sit around and cook and laugh and drink.

VERSACE: I like to eat. Definitely. I love sitting around a table with my friends. But I don’t know how to cook anything. You can cook for me sometime. But not today. Your album is out today, isn’t it?

KRAVITZ: Yes, it is today. You and I were just talking about 20 years ago, which was the release of my first album. Let Love Rule came out in 1989. The reissue has all of these demos and live performances from that time.

VERSACE: How did you like looking back on your early music? I have to tell you, I listen to that album and it doesn’t feel a day old. It’s so modern.

KRAVITZ: When I was putting the reissue together, I kept thinking, It’s a blessing that it’s been 20 years, that I’m still here. This business I’m in is very disposable these days. So that was the first thing. But I remember when I was originally making this record, I made a comment about wanting to be able to play it in 20 years and still like it. It’s like when you were talking about trends, there was a trend going on at the time in the late ’80s, a certain sound, and I didn’t want to follow that, even though everyone told me I should. I wanted to make something that sounded very pure, organic, and personal. Like if you played it today, you couldn’t tell if it was recorded in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, or right now. I wanted to make music that was timeless.

VERSACE: Do you feel that way about all of the music you’ve made?

KRAVITZ: I’m definitely happy with everything I’ve done. I stand behind it. You’ll always be saying, “Well, I could change that, or I would do that differently.” But you have to let it be what it is. It still stands for something—it stands for an emotion or an inspiration you had at a certain moment, and that makes it valid.

VERSACE: If you wait until something is exactly how you wanted to express it, you won’t create anything anymore. Of course, you always think to yourself, certain things could have been better, but after that, you say, “It’s ready to go. It has to be on the runway.”

KRAVITZ: Yeah, the show’s tomorrow. You better be ready.

VERSACE: That’s what makes me push in my work, to push forward. It’s very related to music in that way. I wanted to ask you about Zoë. I saw her recently—she’s so beautiful and talented.

KRAVITZ: Zoë blows my mind. She’s incredible. The thing that means the most to me is having this strong father-daughter relationship.

VERSACE: But you were always close with her. I remember when she was little, she was very attached to you.

KRAVITZ: Now she’s making movies. And she’s in a band, recording their first album. They’re called Elevator Fight, and the music’s really good. She didn’t let me hear anything for a long time, and then finally she played me the CD over Thanksgiving. It was the first thing I heard, and I couldn’t believe it. Weirdly, the same thing happened with my mother. I never let her listen to any of the music I made until I did Let Love Rule. When she heard it, she was shocked. She said, “So that’s what you’ve been doing in that room all of this time.” She had no idea what I was doing because I never played anything for her.

VERSACE: You know, my son, Daniel, is in a rock band called Nucleus. He plays guitar. A long time ago I gave him a guitar strap with your name on it as a gift. And he still wears it. You’re one of his heroes.

KRAVITZ: That’s so sweet. You have to send me one of his demos.

VERSACE: Yes, you tell me what you think, honestly.

KRAVITZ: I think it’s great that Zoë’s taken on the fields that both her mother and her father work in. I’m happy she’s expressing herself. You know, you always say that as a parent, “As long as she’s happy.” And I remember beautiful Allegra . . . so sweet and talented.

VERSACE: She’s such a talented young woman. She’s studying now. You’re right, and I always say it: It’s good to see the children be creative. It’s the pleasure of the future.

Lenny Kravitz is a Grammy Award–winning musician.