Lenny Kravitz Says He Got High the First Time He Listened to Led Zeppelin: ‘I Was Reborn’ (Exclusive)

For many people, there is that one band or artist that has a profound influence on them. For Lenny Kravitz it was Led Zeppelin.

In this week’s cover story, the longtime rocker, 59, tells PEOPLE about the formative experience he had when he first heard the English rock band fronted by singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page.

“I was taking a class with my friend, another black Jewish kid, and she rolled this really nice joint, and I’d never smoked before. This guy was playing a boom box Zeppelin IVand I was born again,” Kravitz recalls of his childhood moment in Santa Monica, Calif., listening to the 1971 album — the band’s untitled fourth album at the time, which became known as Led Zeppelin IV after the first three editions of a similar name.

Although the album is mostly known for introducing the now-influential track, “Stairway to Heaven,” it was the lead track, “Black Dog,” that hooked Kravitz at the time with “this great riff,” he says.

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Lenny Kravitz on the cover of PEOPLE.

Melody McDaniel

Listening to the record — and the band — proved monumental for Kravitz, who until then had only cited groups like the Jackson 5 as giving him his first taste of rock and roll. (“They were rock stars—young, black rock stars going at it hard,” he says of the family five.)

For Kravitz, it expanded what the rock and roll genre could be—especially when it came to race and sound. When it comes to Led Zeppelin, for example, he says what spoke to him “was the power of black music like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, electrified by these British musicians who understood the origins and made it louder and more intense.”

The singer — who is known for fusing rock, funk, reggae, soul and R&B into his own music — says, “When I heard that, this vortex opened up.”

Lenny Kravitz for PEOPLE.

Melody McDaniel

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From there, his influence continued to expand as he embraced the Dogtown and Z-Boys culture of 1970s Santa Monica, as well as listening to the comedy records of Cheech & Chong. “There was this whole culture going on in Los Angeles at the time,” Kravitz recalls, “and I had just moved from New York with no idea about it all, and here I was.”

But the influence of Led Zeppelin can be heard in Kravitz’s expanding discography, from his breakthrough album in 1993. Will you go my way? — which features the Grammy-nominated title track — on his 12th studio album Blue electric lightwhich falls on March 15.

In fact, Kravitz even recognized the band when they were honored by President Barack Obama and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. Kravitz was part of an all-star lineup (including the Foo Fighters and Kid Rock) who performed a medley of “Rock and Roll” songs. , “Baby I’m Gonna Leave You,” “Ramble On,” and “A Whole Lotta Love.”

Lenny Kravitz for PEOPLE.

Melody McDaniel

For more on the life and loves of Lenny Kravitz, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE magazine, on newsstands everywhere now.

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Source: HIS Education