Let Love Rule - Lenny Kravitz Page 0,49

earth. She and Mom chatted it up, while I watched in awe.

Fifteen minutes later, I was seated in our box, sandwiched between Mom and Dad. Lights down. Pin spot on Sarah as she entered wearing a long gown glittering with silver sparkles. Her command of the stage was stunning. Her voice—her rich tone, remarkable range, ability to bend notes with striking beauty—wiped me out. Five minutes before, she’d been Auntie Sarah. Now she was a regal queen.

* * *

How do you go from falling head over heels in love with the voice of Sarah Vaughan to organizing a New Wave band? I didn’t think twice about it. Music inspires me, pure and simple. Inspiration comes from all genres. The same way I was a couch surfer, I was a genre surfer. Riding the waves of new music.

My biggest operation so far was a band named Wave. It was the Gap Band meets the Jacksons meets Rick James meets Shalamar meets the Time—with solid chunks of heavy rock thrown in for good measure. Four horns, two keyboardists, a bassist, Dan on drums, two guitarists, and a girl backup trio I named Wet.

Tracy took the lead. His rock star aura made him a perfect front man.

The second singer was Kevin Conner, my boy from Bed-Stuy. Kevin and I had been tight since we met as little kids. During my time in California, he’d been making strides as an amateur boxer in Brooklyn, but I convinced him to sing. Kevin was a serious music fan. He knew every Marvin Gaye riff, and I knew he’d fit in fine. I scrounged up the money, sent him a plane ticket, and, in another one of my crazy schemes, snuck him into Cloverdale. I may not have been living there anymore, but for months Kevin camped out in a sleeping bag in the alcove outside my bathroom door. When Mom and Dad went out for the day, I’d bring him sandwiches from Leroy’s, where I was still frying fish.

All went smoothly until Dad heard a noise, grabbed his shotgun, and nearly blew Kevin away before realizing the “intruder” was Kevin from Bed-Stuy. Mom would have let him stay, but not Dad. So, I found Kevin another place to crash. I also had Dalee do his hair and dress him in a pink polo shirt, designer jeans, and K-Swiss sneakers. The Beverly Hills girls went crazy for him, and Kevin hooked up with a sweetheart who lived in a mansion bigger than Berry Gordy’s.

I was Wave’s third singer. I wasn’t looking to be the star—that’s never been my goal—but rather, the guy who makes it all happen—a junior Maurice White. Wave was never a cover band. We wrote original songs. With Earth, Wind & Fire in mind, I also hooked up fog machines, sound effects, and an elaborate light show. And Tracy, Kevin, and I made our own costumes. We went to a fabric store in West Hollywood and bought cheap vibrant prints and fake leather to make trousers. Then we hit up Flip for vintage shirts, which we bedazzled with rhinestones. We finished off the look with Prince-like pompadours, Michael Jackson Jheri curls, and smoky eye makeup.

We’d rehearse at Martin Landau and Barbara Bain’s house. They didn’t seem to care that their basement was overrun with kids blasting funky music. Within a matter of months, we’d put together a fifteen-member band on a shoestring.

The idea was to introduce Wave at a heavily promoted show where, before storming the stage like rock stars, we’d arrive in limos. But naturally, limos cost money. Because I was not only writing songs and putting together this major production, but had assumed the role of super salesman, too, I convinced my Newbridge classmate Michael O’Connor, who came from a wealthy family, to underwrite the show. I also talked the Music Department at Beverly Hills High into letting us use the school’s auditorium. I was a man possessed. This show had to happen, and it had to be nothing less than spectacular.

To hype the event, we did an interview for the local paper and printed out embossed tickets:

Fantasy Productions Proudly Presents

WAVE

In Concert: Friday, December 3, 1982, 8 PM

Beverly Hills High, K.L. Peters Auditorium

421 South Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, California

FREE ADMISSION

The big night arrived. Naturally, Mom came, but I was glad that Dad did, too. After all this work, I wanted my father to see what I was about to pull off. And we did pull it off. The kids went nuts. No