Lenny Kaye

Lenny Kaye has spent more than half a century working on the edges of American rock, as guitarist, composer and writer. Born Lenny Kusikoff in Washington Heights, New York City, in 1946, he played the accordion and collected records as a boy, later publishing his own science fiction fanzine, Obelisk, at fifteen. Today his name is tied to three strands: his partnership with Patti Smith, his work for music magazines and his garage rock anthology.

Kaye formed an artistic partnership with Patti Smith, producing her debut single and contributing to several of her albums. In 1979 he started his own band, Lenny Kaye Connection, and released the album I've Got a Right in 1984. He rejoined Smith's band in 1995. His 1972 anthology Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965\u20131968 documented 1960s garage rock, and he co-wrote Rock 100 with David Dalton. He took over the night shift on Underground Garage radio channel in February 2018, replacing Richard Manitoba. In July 2026 he released Goin' Local, his first album under his own name.