Sir Mick Jagger’s solo work was like a “holiday” to him, according to Lenny Kravitz.
The Rolling Stones rocker, 80, had the ‘Fly Away’ hitmaker, 59, appear on his 1993 solo LP ‘Wandering Spirit’, on a cover of the Bill Withers soul classic ‘Use Me’.
Kravitz also co-wrote the song ‘God Gave Me Everything’ on Jagger’s 2001 record ‘Goddess in the Doorway’.
And when it was suggested that the ‘Start Me Up’ rocker felt “lost” making music without his Stones bandmates, he told MOJO magazine: “No, no, no. Mick enjoyed his solo time. For him, it was a holiday. We collaborated on Bill Withers’ Use Me for [1993’s] Wandering Spirit, but we wrote God Gave Me Everything on Goddess In The Doorway [2001]. I had the melody, but no words apart from a bit of chorus. He came to my Roxie studio in Miami. I mumbled some words.
He took a pen and paper and 30 minutes later had the lyrics.
“He goes into the vocal booth and starts singing from the top to bottom perfectly.
“I say, ‘My God, that was amazing,’ and he says, ‘We’ll get the real vocal later.’
He tried over and over again. Of course we used the original.”
The ‘American Woman’ singer gets his validation from the likes of Jagger and the late King of Pop working with him.
Asked if he feels “under-valued”, he replied: “First of all, I don’t need validation. I’m not that person. I know who I am. I know what I do and I feel good about it. Then I look at the people gravitating towards me, from Michael Jackson to Mick Jagger – they all called me, remember – the legendary folk who supported me and I know they get it. I could name 50 of them.
That’s my validation.”
Jackson and Kravitz teamed up on the track ‘(I Can’t Make It) Another Day’ from the ‘Invincible’ studio sessions, which featured on the posthumous ‘Michael’ album in 2010.
Jackson’s back vocals also posthumously appeared on Kravitz’ song ‘Low’ from his 2018 album ‘Raise Vibration’.