14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this year, after many months of speculation and conflicting rumors, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry told the media that Steven Tyler, the frontman for approximately 40 years, had quit the band to see to a solo project. Also then, he stressed that Aerosmith would go on without Tyler, a thing former Geffen Records executive John Kalodner also recommends, proposing Lenny Kravitz as a possible replacement, Starpulse writes.
Kalodner is the man behind the band’s 1980s comeback, therefore is not exactly a stranger to the matter and how it should be handled. No matter how much Tyler insists that he’s still with Aerosmith, the truth is that the other members are not willing to just hang around and wait for him, and they want to get moving on a new album and possibly a tour as well. For that, they need a frontman and Kalodner believes Kravitz might be just the man.
Of course, no one can possibly replace Steven Tyler but, at the very least, they can see Kravitz as a frontman that would best suit the new direction the band is going to take. “I was talking to Marty Frederickson about this because he co-wrote ‘Jaded’ and worked with them for 10 years or so. We were talking about how no one can replace Steven Tyler, but the only person he said – and I agreed with – that could even make Aerosmith anything would be Lenny Kravitz. If you’re asking me, is there Aerosmith without Steven Tyler, my answer is no,” Kalodner says, as cited by the aforementioned publication.
Kalodner and Joe Perry are not the only people to believe – and say so out loud – that there is no way one could even dream of replacing Steven Tyler, a singer as iconic as Aerosmith also is. However, as Brad Whitford also revealed just recently, the members are looking for ways to move forward, even if that means putting the Aerosmith millions of fans from all over the world love behind. One step in that direction would be finding the right frontman.
“You’re never gonna fill the shoes of Steven Tyler. Not even possible. So we’re not even thinking in terms of filling his shoes. But there may be some people willing to try, and hopefully we do something creative with it, you know, and not just go out there and be like an Aerosmith cover band,” Whitford was saying, as cited by the same publication.