Last Updated on February 17, 2011 by Paulette Brown-Hinds
(Reuters) – Singer and musician Lenny Kravitz will release his first album in three years under the title “Black and White America,” and he promised on Wednesday it will be his most musically and lyrically “diverse” yet.
The album will be the 46 year-old songwriter’s ninth in his career but the first under a new label, Atlantic and Roadrunner Records. It will be released in the middle of 2011 as Kravitz embarks on a world tour in June.
Kravitz told Billboard.com the album’s title was derived from his experiences growing up “in between a so-called black and white world,” up to changes in the United States today including Barack Obama elected as the first black president.
“My life has always been about contrasts, and it reflects on not only my life and what I’ve gone through with my parents and what I saw growing up, but also where we are now as far as this country,” he said.
Kravitz is the son of black actress Roxie Roker and white television producer Sy Kravitz.
The 12-track up tempo album is expected to contain elements of Kravitz’s signature sound that mixes rock, funk and soul influenced by the 1960s and 1970s, including tracks called “Stand, “You’re Gonna Run Again,” “Push” and “Super Love” — described as combining 1970s funk with a modern sound, according to a statement.
The album will also include “Dream,” a piano ballad and a funk-driven title track.
“Musically and lyrically, I feel it is the most diverse album of my career,” Kravitz, who has won several Grammy awards for best male rock vocal performance, said in the statement.
He last toured in 2009 across 18 countries with his last album, “It Is Time For A Love Revolution”. It contained the hit ballad “I’ll Be Waiting” that landed in the top 10 in several European markets.
Kravitz also has acted in recent years, including a supporting role as a nurse in the 2009 film “Precious.”