Lenny Kravitz speaks very highly of Michael on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' 12/21/11 - SWEET WORDS :)

MsCassieMollie

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Here's the transcript :) Lenny is such a sweetheart.


CNN.com - Transcripts


MORGAN: Of all of the things that you've experienced in your extraordinary career and life, if I could give you five minutes to replay one of them again, what would it be? What's been the most magical? Forget women or children or births of a child. Obviously, that's different. But what's the career moment where if you had the chance, you'd relive it?


KRAVITZ: The career moment. Wow. You know, I -- I've had so many where I had to pinch myself.


MORGAN: What was the biggest pinch?


KRAVITZ: Being -- probably producing Michael Jackson. And there's been a lot of great ones, but that was something extraordinary.


MORGAN: What made it so extraordinary?


KRAVITZ: Well, the fact that, you know, I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't seen the Jackson Five when I was six years old. That was the first concert that I had ever been to. My father took me to Madison Square Garden to see them. And it changed everything.


The universe was a different place the next day. I was completely blown away by the music, the talent, the whole experience. And here I am in the studio. I had written a song for Michael. And he's standing there, telling me to be very hard on him, I want to do this exactly the way you see it, so stop me every time it's not the way you want it and so forth.


And we're just getting into it. We're working together. And we ended up spending, you know, a week together in the studio. It was just unbelievable.


MORGAN: What kind after man was he? For real.


KRAVITZ: I thought that he, first of all, was just a beautiful being. Extremely professional, a perfectionist. Still having the passion all those years later, you know? He would stay, work all day and night, come back the next day, all day and night. He hadn't lost that.


A great father. He was amazing with his children. I spent time with the kids. We were all in the studio. Zoe would come and we would all hang out together. He was a very good father. And he was funny. Very funny.


MORGAN: Great sense of humor.


KRAVITZ: We laughed all the time. And he could eat more than you think.


MORGAN: Really? He had all of the energy to burn off, all of the dancing.


KRAVITZ: Yeah.


MORGAN: Incredible talent. The greatest I've ever seen.


KRAVITZ: The greatest ever. I would agree with that.


MORGAN: How did you feel when you heard what happened to him? And there's sort of mixed thoughts from people that knew him well, that there was a kind of inevitability in the way his life was going, and that actually for somebody like Michael Jackson -- I don't want this to sound callus -- but actually not getting old may have been something that wouldn't have been his worst nightmare.


KRAVITZ: It was interesting. I heard you speaking to Jane Fonda about that. She had spoken about that. I mean, I was obviously devastated. I was blown away. I found out on stage in Scotland, as I was coming off and getting ready to go back on for an encore. And they told me and I had to go back out.


I mean, I -- it's -- it's extremely sad. I mean, I -- I was really looking forward to seeing him come back and do those shows, even though I knew, like, wow, 50 shows, that's -- that's really serious.


MORGAN: I mean, is his legacy going to be that, of our lifetime -- because you get the older generation saying Sammy Davis pretty well the greatest entertainer of that era, whatever. Do you think of our lifetime, Michael Jackson was the best?

KRAVITZ: Of course. You can't touch it.


MORGAN: The greatest naturally gifted, as you said earlier?


KRAVITZ: Yes.


MORGAN: Entertainer of them all?


KRAVITZ: Yes, completely. I think people -- people think about Michael Jackson and his solo career, which was obviously phenomenal. But the deepest genius I saw him in was when he was a child. I think that he was -- he was a child and he sang with the same talent and soul and intensity of an Aretha Franklin or a James Brown or any great vocalist.
 
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That was awesome. I love to hear how those who worked with MJ or knew him all state the same thing
That beyond his Mega talent he was a genuine kind generous and funny man and they all say GREAT
Father.
 
Thanks to Lenny for kind words, but I always feel sad when people see Michael just as great enternainer, but not a great creator, artist. For me his childhood work isn't even comparable to what he did as an adult, because as a child he merely performed whatever he was given, and the real beauty is in what he created. It's not his child's voice, but the unforgettable rythm of "Billie Jean", the haunting prayer of "Will You Be There", the magic of his music videos that make him a genius.
 
Lenny has always said nothing, but kind things about Michael. Love him for that :)
 
Thanks for posting :) Lenny :heart: (great performer himself too, saw him a few weeks ago)
 
Great way to start my morning. Thanks so much for posting.

Thanks to Lenny for kind words, but I always feel sad when people see Michael just as great enternainer, but not a great creator, artist. For me his childhood work isn't even comparable to what he did as an adult, because as a child he merely performed whatever he was given, and the real beauty is in what he created. It's not his child's voice, but the unforgettable rythm of "Billie Jean", the haunting prayer of "Will You Be There", the magic of his music videos that make him a genius.

True, but since as a child, he was able to connect with Lenny to the extent he did, that in itself is part of his genuis. Michael may have just performed whatever he was given, but he did it in a manner as Smokey and Barry Gordy said, beyond his years. It wasn't just his child voice or his outrageous octaves, but his ability to convey emotion he as a child had not yet experienced. That's why many, especially other artists, marvel at his childhood talents, because as adults, they draw on actual experiences and depth of feelings to create. MJ hadn't even had those experiences or feelings yet, and he was still able to convey the emotions of them.

When you see children on these talent shows, you realize the difference. Some of the children truly have phenonmenal voices, but they don't have that ability to sell the emotion to the extent that MJ could. He was just gifted all over the place during every era of his career.
 
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Glad this transcript is here because my DVR cut off just when Lenny Kravitz got to "Aretha Franklin". I watched most of this interview. It was very interesting. I agree that a lot of Michael's genius was evident when he was a child. I mean, he was just naturally gifted. He didn't have to be taught to sing so passionately and with so much emotion and soul and in tune and on key. He just somehow knew how. That is genius. Which lead to what he did later in life to create some of the greatest pop songs and give some of the greatest performances ever.

The other day I was visiting my mother and she had her radio on and the Jackson 5 was on with one of their Christmas songs. I said to my mother, "I would like to see Justin Beiber sing half as good as this right now." Nothing against Beiber but it's just plain to see the difference in the level of natural talent between Michael and everybody else. I remember even as a kid listening to Michael he touched me very much with the way he sang and I was just a kid lol.
 
What a lovely interview. I agree with Lenny that Michael was a genius performer when he was a child. He wasn't just good for a child, he was truly genius, period. By anyone's standards, for anyone of any age. However, I don't believe it was his deepest genius. Michael's artistry continued to grow and develop all through out his life. All the way up to the "This Is It", we see the unfolding of musical genius. It wasn't just singing and dancing. Michael mastered so many skills, then combined all this knowledge into something that was so utterly original it is nothing less than breath taking. I don't think Michael ever stopped growing and creating new and better ideas.
 
Love Lenny for showin' some Michael love. He's an amazing artist, too.
 
Lovely. May celebrities continue to speak positively and truthfully of Michael in the media, and then maybe finally the ignorant people will get a clue. I always appreciate it when they talk about how great a father Michael was as well. :)
 
Thank you Lenny. You hear the same thing when you hear from people who actually spent time and got to know Michael. Because that is who he was. I loved him saying Michael was a beautiful being.
 
Every word he said was true. It's not often you hear someone talk about MJ and everything they say is true, is how I feel.
 
Thank you Lenny. This is so uplifting and so true.
 
I love Lenny....He always shows the utmost respect for Michael as an artist, and as a person....Lenny is a fantastic musician as well....

Plus, he's sexy :naughty:
 
Its always nice to hear from people who have actually spent time with Michael and who really got to know the man first and foremost. Words straight from the heart, thank you Lenny.
 
Thanks for letting us know about this interview. Hope I can find the rest of it some time soon.
 
here is the full MJ part, but only AUDIO...

[youtube]18Su-n80UQM[/youtube]
 
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