Andy Kravitz is an American drummer and percussionist, audio engineer, record producer, and songwriter. He has been nominated for 14

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

s, winning several. He lives near

Venice Beach Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early life

Andy Kravitz was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Career

In 1992, Kravitz played with

Kris Kross Kris Kross was an American hip hop duo that consisted of Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith. Kris Kross was the youngest hip-hop duo to gain success, with gold and platinum albums at 12 and 13 years old. The duo was discover ...

on ''

Totally Krossed Out ''Totally Krossed Out'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Kris Kross. It was produced and largely written by Jermaine Dupri and Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo and released on March 31, 1992, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. ...

'', and with former

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

guitarist and singer

Rick Vito Richard Francis (Rick) Vito (born October 13, 1949, in Darby, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American guitarist and singer. He was part of Fleetwood Mac between 1987 and 1991. Vito took over as lead guitarist after Lindsey Buckingham left t ...

on his debut solo album, ''

King of Hearts The king of hearts is a playing card in the standard 52-card deck. King of Hearts may also refer to: Games * The King of Hearts Has Five Sons, card game that may have been a precursor to Cluedo Books * King of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in W ...

'', on the songs "Desireé" and "Honey Love". In 1993, he produced

Urge Overkill Urge Overkill is an American alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, consisting of Nathan Kaatrud, who took the stage name Nash Kato (vocals/guitar), and Eddie "King" Roeser (vocals/guitar/bass guitar). They are widely ...

's fourth album, ''

Saturation Saturation, saturated, unsaturation or unsaturated may refer to: Chemistry * Saturation, a property of organic compounds referring to carbon-carbon bonds **Saturated and unsaturated compounds ** Degree of unsaturation **Saturated fat or fatty aci ...

''. In 1995, Kravitz played with

Joan Osborne Joan Elizabeth Osborne (born July 8, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and interpreter of music, having recorded and performed in various popular American musical genres including rock, pop, soul, R&B, blues, and country. She is best kn ...

on her second album, ''

Relish A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with ho ...

'', and co-produced

Dishwalla Dishwalla is an American alternative rock band from Santa Barbara, California. The band's name comes from a Hindi term for a person providing satellite TV to a neighborhood (" dish" + walla). In a '' Vox'' interview, lead guitarist Rodney Brown ...

's debut album, ''

Pet Your Friends ''Pet Your Friends'' is the debut album by American alternative rock band Dishwalla. It was released in 1995 on A&M Records. The album produced the hit single "Counting Blue Cars" (the second single off the album), which was a Top 40 favorite. Th ...

''. In 1996, he played with

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...

on their EP, '' Unreleased and Revamped''. In 1998, Kravitz played with

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...

on her debut album, '' iMegaphone''. In 1999, he co-produced

Simon Townshend Simon Townshend (; born 10 October 1960) is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of the Who's guitarist Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members ...

's album, '' Animal Soup''. In 2000, Kravitz co-produced

Juliana Hatfield Juliana Hatfield (born July 27, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies, Some Girls (band), Some Girls, and The Lemonheads. She also fronted her own band, The Julia ...

's fourth album, ''

Beautiful Creature ''Beautiful Creature'' is the fourth solo album by Juliana Hatfield, released in 2000. Release ''Beautiful Creature'' was released simultaneously with '' Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure''. Critical reception According to Metacritic, ''Bea ...

''. In 2010, he played with a local

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

group formed by

Warren Cuccurullo Warren Bruce Cuccurullo (born December 8, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, restaurant owner and former body builder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s ...

called Theoretical 5 in

Mar Vista, Los Angeles Mar Vista is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California. In 1927, Mar Vista became the 70th community to be annexed to Los Angeles. It was designated as an official city neighborhood in 2006. History Mar Vista was called Ocean Par ...

with

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

alumni

Arthur Barrow Arthur Barrow (born February 28, 1952) is a multi-instrumental musician, best known for his stint as a bass guitar player for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Early life Barrow was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1952 and grew up in ...

(bass),

Tommy Mars Tommy Mars (born Thomas Mariano on October 26, 1951) is an American keyboard player known for his work with Frank Zappa. Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars g ...

(keyboards, vocals), and Larry Klimas (saxophone). In 2011, Kravitz collaborated with Michael Tearson and

Tom Hampton Tom Hampton (born July 25, 1965 in Savannah, Tennessee) is a multi-instrumentalist, sideman, session musician and singer/songwriter. In April 2020, he joined the country-rock band Poco as guitarist and vocalist. Biography Tom Hampton (born July ...

on Tearson's debut album, ''Stuff That Works''.

New White Trash

New White Trash was a downtempo acoustic rock band formed by Kravitz and

Michael Ruppert Michael Craig Ruppert (February 3, 1951 – April 13, 2014) was an American writer and musician, Los Angeles Police Department officer, investigative journalist, political activist, and peak oil awareness advocate known for his 2004 book ''Crossi ...

, singer

Kristen Vigard Kristen Vigard (born May 15, 1963) is an American actress and singer. She is known for being the first actress to play the title role in '' Annie'' in its pre-Broadway run and for her two-year run as Morgan Richards on ''Guiding Light'' (1980–8 ...

, and guitarist Doug Lewis. The band released two albums, ''Doublewide'' (2011) and ''Age of Authority'' (2013). Following Ruppert's suicide in 2014, the band announced its intention to release a tribute album. ''Beyond the Rubicon'' was released on December 11, 2014.

Charts and awards

*, reached #7 on Billboard's Top World Music Albums and #40 on

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

. *, peaked at #1 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

and was nominated for

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

. *, reached #2 on Top Heatseekers and #146 on the Billboard 200. *, reached #48 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for

Best Contemporary Folk Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1991 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, this category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. As ...

. *, reached #1 on Top Heatseekers and #9 on the Billboard 200. and was nominated for Album of the Year.

Selected discography

;Drums and percussion * * * * * * * * * ("Love Is Strong (Joe the Butcher Club Remix)") * * * * * * ;Producer * * * * *

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent ...

(2008). "Come When You Call Me America" Unreleased. ;Writer *

(2008). "Come When You Call Me America" Unreleased. ;Videos * *

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*
Andy Kravitz blog
at ''

Modern Drummer ''Modern Drummer'' is a monthly publication targeting the interests of drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public. ''Mo ...

'' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kravitz, Andy 1966 births Living people American male drummers American male singer-songwriters American rock drummers Musicians from Los Angeles Musicians from Philadelphia Record producers from California Record producers from Pennsylvania Singer-songwriters from California Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania