Lenny Kaye

Lenny Kaye
Kaye performing with Patti Smith in 1978
Background information
Birth name	Lenny Kusikoff
Also known as	Lenny Kaye Connection
Born	(1946-12-27) December 27, 1946
Origin	New York City, U.S.
Genres	Rock protopunk punk garage rock
Occupations	Musician songwriter record producer music journalist
Instrument(s)	Guitar, bass, vocals
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Giorno Poetry Systems, Arista, Columbia
Website	LennyKaye.com

Lenny Kaye (né Kusikoff; born December 27, 1946) is an American guitarist, composer, and writer, notable for his work with the Patti Smith Group, his contributions to music magazines, and his garage rock retrospective anthology Nuggets.

Early life and education

Kaye was born to Jewish parents in the Washington Heights area of Upper Manhattan, New York City. His father changed the family name from Kusikoff to Kaye when Lenny was one-year old. He grew up in Queens and Brooklyn.

He played the accordion, but by the end of the 1950s had dropped the instrument in favor of collecting records. In 1960, his family moved to North Brunswick, New Jersey, where Kaye attended high school. He participated in science fiction fandom and gained experience in writing, publishing his own science fiction fanzine, Obelisk, at the age of 15. His personal collection of fanzines later formed the foundation of the Lenny Kaye Science Fiction Fanzine Library at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.

In 1967, he graduated from Rutgers University, where he majored in American history. During college he had begun playing in bands, on a college mixer and fraternity circuit. His first gig was with the Vandals at Alpha Sigma Phi on November 7, 1964.

Career

Kaye performing with Patti Smith and her group in Germany in 1979

Kaye's uncle was songwriter Larry Kusik, who wrote lyrics to "A Time For Us" and "Speak Softly Love". Kusik noticed Kaye's lengthening hair and musical commitment, and asked him to sing on a song that he co-wrote with Ritchie Adams ("You Were Mine").

Kaye recorded "Crazy Like A Fox" and its flip side song, "Shock Me", which were released as a 45, issued under the name of Link Cromwell, and leased to Hollywood Records, a division of Starday Records in Nashville; it was released in March 1966. It garnered a Newcomer Pick of the Week from Cashbox ("A rhythmic bluesy folk-rocker with a pulsating beat") and was issued in the UK and Australia. Kaye's group at the time, The Zoo, played the college circuit in New York and Pennsylvania, an experience captured on Live 1966, an album released by Norton Records.

He began writing for Jazz & Pop magazine, and later for Fusion, Crawdaddy, Melody Maker, Creem and Rolling Stone. He became music editor for Cavalier, a men's magazine, where he also wrote a monthly column until 1975. He served as the New York correspondent for Disc, a British weekly publication. He edited Rock Scene and Hit Parader.

While working at a record store on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, Kaye met poet and vocalist Patti Smith. On February 10, 1971, he backed her at a reading at St. Mark's Church on East 10th Street, opening for Gerard Malanga. They resumed performing in November 1973, and Kaye produced Smith's debut single, "Hey Joe/Piss Factory", and performed as part of her group throughout the 1970s, contributing to four of Smith's albums: Horses (1975), Radio Ethiopia (1976), Easter (1978), and Wave (1979).

Kaye authored a 1972 anthology of garage rock during the 1960s, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968. With David Dalton, he co-authored the book Rock 100, a 1977 overview of leading rock stars from the 1950s into the 1970s.

Following the Patti Smith Group's final performance, for the time being, in September 1979, Kaye joined Jim Carroll and his band and fronted his own group, Lenny Kaye Connection. Over the years he has worked in studio capacities with Carroll, R.E.M., James, Soul Asylum, Kristin Hersh, and Allen Ginsberg. He coproduced Suzanne Vega's first two albums and her 1987 hit single, "Luka", which was nominated for a Grammy as "Record of the Year".

In 1995, he reunited with Patti Smith and has been a part of her band since, creating six studio albums, a retrospective, and celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Horses.

He has been nominated three times for Grammy Awards in the liner notes category for boxed sets on the 1960s folk revival of Bleecker & MacDougal, the white blues band Crossroads, and the progressive rock band Elektrock. His book You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon, about the romantic singers of the 1930s, was published in 2004.

In 2010, Kaye contributed a solo recording for Daddy Rockin' Strong: A Tribute to Nolan Strong and the Diablos, released by The Wind/Norton Records. Kaye recorded a version of "I Wanna Know", a 1950s rhythm and blues ballad. He appeared on and wrote one song for The Fleshtones 2011 album Brooklyn Sound Solution, released by Yep Roc. He appeared on the R.E.M. songs "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter" and "Blue", which appear on the band's 2011 album Collapse into Now.

In mid-February 2018, Kaye took over the night shift on Underground Garage, replacing Richard Manitoba.

Discography

"Crazy Like a Fox" b/w "Shock Me" (as Link Cromwell; Hollywood Records, 1966)

I've Got a Right (Giorno Poetry Systems, 1984)

"Child Bride" b/w "The Tracks of My Tears" (Mer Records, 1980)

Daddy Rockin Strong: A Tribute to Nolan Strong & The Diablos (The Wind / Norton Records, 2010); track: "I Wanna Know"

Further information: Patti Smith discography

External links

• Official website (archived from 2008)
• Lenny Kaye at AllMusic
• Lenny Kaye discography at Discogs
• Lenny Kaye at IMDb 
• Lenny Kaye discography at MusicBrainz
• Lenny Kaye