Lenny Kravitz became friends with Mariah Carey at 'Sports Bar'

Decades before they achieved icon status, Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey became friends.

Both stars received awards at his Recording Academy Awards Black music groupin Los Angeles on Thursday and Kravitz opened up to People on the red carpet about the origins of their bond.

“We met on the East Side in New York, and we were around the same group of friends,” the 59-year-old “American Woman” singer tells PEOPLE of Carey, 54, who starred alongside her in Lee Daniels’ 2009 film. costly.

“She was working on her demos. I was working on mine. She worked at a sports bar that I used to hang out at,” Kravitz recalls. “So, it's very special to share this night with Maria.”

Kravitz also recalls that some feline friends joined him when the couple hung out at Carey's apartment.

“We would go to their house and have a good time. She had a bunch of cats,” he said. Tell Entertainment tonightIt was not made clear whether the pets belonged to Carrie or her roommate.

“I remember her playing her cassette tapes and me playing mine, and here we are tonight on the same night, which is great,” Kravitz said.

He and Carey received the Recording Academy Global Impact Award, a CEO recognition award, during the ceremony at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

This week, Kravitz also appeared on the cover of PEOPLE — and spoke about his experience on the event's red carpet. “It's surreal to be on the cover of PEOPLE and to be on the checkout stand,” he said before recalling the photo shoot. “It was a fun day. [I] I had a great time shooting in the hills in Malibu.”

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In the cover story, the Grammy winner reflects on his early days as an aspiring rock star shopping his music to record labels in the 1980s and being told he didn't fit the bill as a black artist.

“I was told my music wasn't black enough or wasn't white enough,” he said, noting that regarding his eclectic musical interests, record companies said “I had to choose, but I never did.”

Kravitz added, “I was told that I needed to make music that was made commercially by black people and that would be played on the radio, so it would be a hit. And I was never able to achieve any of that. I was going to make the music that I made.”

These days the musician — whose new album Electric blue light Drops March 22nd – He's proven himself and looks to his past and present for inspiration.

“It's amazing for me to be where I am right now and feel fresh and hungry,” Kravitz said, before revealing the best part about being a true rock star: “This is what God created me to be. I'm just trying to walk into that destiny.” ”