When you’re someone who makes a career out of interviewing others, you gain a lot of insight and often have many stories to share yourself. Lenny Green has been one of the voices of late night radio for over 13 years, so needless to say, he had a lot to share about his road traveled, his experiences behind the mic and what life is like for the man behind the voice. For years Green was the lone late night love guru in the tri-state airing on Kiss F.M.’s Kissing After Dark until he was unsuccessfully partnered with Brian McKnight about a year ago. Now with the partnership behind him, Green is back with his solo show, slightly renamed to include his name (Kissing After Dark with Lenny Green) and now syndicated in many markets throughout the country. While many faithful listeners never thought the partnership might be the end for their beloved voice of late-night, Green never once had a doubt. As far as he is concerned his whole career has been guided by divine intervention and a power much higher than himself or the people around him. He talked about it all in our exclusive interview one night before he was set to go live at his usual 7p.m. start time. Our chat was so good that we'd probably still be talking if he didn't have to go on air.

Parlé: I know you wanted to be a singer as a child, let's start with that. Why didn't that career work out?

Lenny Green: Nine years old right, I focused on the singing, I thought I was going to be the next Michael Jackson, honest to God. Why it didn't work out? I guess, I started out singing by myself at first, then met some cats around my neighborhood who were interested in singing so we formed this group. We started singing, did the Apollo Theater, came in second place and then they got disinterested. When they got disinterested my interest fell a little bit, but it was still focused on music. So I started a solo career although I never pursued the Apollo thing again. Put it like this, when I got out of high school, I was singing. When I got to college I was singing, but it was that moment when I walked into that radio station that changed things.

Parlé: What brought about your interest in the radio station at all?

Lenny Green: Somebody had told me that the school, Kingsborough had a radio station. I really wasn't interested but eventually I went, probably two semesters in, I went to check out the radio station. When I got there I was just in awe of all the inner workings and what was going on there. Footnote: My brother had an interest in radio way before I came to college. My older brother, but we're like twelve years apart so I kinda grew up pretty much on my own, but I guess his first introduction was kinda in the back of my head but it had no effect on me. It was those inner working of that first impact that I was like 'wow, this is pretty interesting'. I hung around a few more times and they kinds threw an opportunity at me, like 'hey, you want a show?' This is college radio, we're talking a ten watt station. I'm like 'yeah, I'll take a show'. '

Parlé: What kind of show was it?

Lenny Green: Jazz.

Parlé: That’s an interesting pick, why jazz?

Lenny Green: It was contemporary jazz, cause my brother-again-when he was doing his show it was contemporary jazz, again early influences. This is like a footnote for kids and to parents, those early influences really have a benchmark to kids. So, they gave me a Jazz show, ironically, here's the spiritual catch, it was 7 o'clock in the evening, 7pm has stuck with me. Seven, the number 7 is a spiritual number, the number of completion. Call it divine intervention, but 7pm has been the magic number for me and I fell in love from that point. From that point I started really listening to some of the cats in NYC. What better place than NY, I mean NY had some of the best voices in radio of our time. So I just started paying attention to those guys and by God's grace I'm here.

Parlé: What was it like growing up in Brooklyn?

Lenny Green: Prison. We didn't have no silver spoon in our mouth. We grew up poor, middle class, however you like to call it, but it was fun. I had a childhood, kids today don't have a childhood. I grew up in the hood, grew up in the projects, Pink Houses in East New York, which today is kinda rough. Grew up in Bushwich, which today again is kinda rough, I mean it was rough then, you know, we had gangs, Tomahawks, Jolly Ranchers, Jolly Stampers, whatever they were, but it was in a different fabric then how it is now. It was rough. I remember the first time I got ripped off. I get ripped off after working a summer job up in Harlem. I went to collect my check up at the armory on 145th Street. This dude ran the okie-dok and I fell for it. And he got my dollar bill cause that's all I had on me at the time. I wasn't a rough kid. I remember the first time some cat offered me an Old English 800, it was a 40, I didn't know it was a 40, but I knew I didn't like beer. I knew I wasn't drinking as a kid, so when the dude said take a swig, I said no. He said 'by the time I count to three if you don't take this bottle I'ma bust it upside your head.' He said 1,2… I was gone. I was grease lightning, and we lived on the 8th floor, forget an elevator I just flew. So I kinda stayed out of trouble. I wasn't a kid who was looking for trouble, I knew a lot of the dudes who were on the cutting edge, I knew some gangsters, I knew some kids who were ripping off people, but I always fell in that mood where I was cool with them and they were cool with me so it was no problems. The neighborhood I grew up at the time we had some issues with another neighborhood so there were some racial issues at the time but looking back at it, I enjoyed my childhood. I'm sorry that a lot of kids don't really get a chance to enjoy it as much as I did, especially young men.

Parlé: How'd you end up at Kingsborough and what did you end up studying?

Lenny Green: Well when I went in I studied Liberal Arts. By the time I fell in love with radio it was Broadcast Management. Coming out of Brooklyn my zone school was Lane, I didn't want to go to Lane. You looking at a kid who did 8 years in Catholic school, Lane was a little rough around the edges, they could've beat me down to the pulp, I didn't want to go there. Again, call it divine intervention, a guidance counselor messed up on my paper work out of grammar school and I ended up here in Soho and it was a vocational school. I studied electrical installation for 4 years that I hated, my adopted brother, he loved it, I hated it. So I kinda got by high school on academic measures and singing because I found out they had a music class. I found Kingsborough Community College because it was back in Brooklyn. When I got there I thought it should be a University. When you go to Kingsborough Community College right now, it’s a fly college, you would want to learn. I mean you have your own private beach, you're isolated, there's not a lot of congestion. You got the water there, it’s very tranquil, very good for meditation, great for studying. What tripped me up in college, I'll tell a secret, going to that vocational high school, the bad part about it is that it was an all boys school, so needless to say when I got the college the ladies definitely had my attention. So between radio captivating my attention and meeting a lot of ladies, it was rough for two-years.

Parlé: Did you pursue college after the two years?

Lenny Green: No. And that's my desire right now. A lot of people say 'why would you want to pursue college, you already got your career?' It’s about self-fulfillment. At the end of the day, you can have all the accolades, but you also want to have some personal achievements in life. I think that's my personal achievement. Ultimately I wouldn't mind teaching this at some point on a college level, I don't think they offer it on a high school level. But I really want to get my Masters. My schedule has just been so busy since I been here in New York. This year makes 14 years at Kiss so I'm blessed by that opportunity by leaps and bounds but my schedule is just crazy because I don't just do radio, I kinda have my hands in a lot of things, but my focus and my goal, its not even in the back of my mind, its kinda on the side of my mind—is to go back and get my Bachelor's of Science and then go and get my Master's.

Parlé: Would you get it in Media?

Lenny Green: Probably in Communications or Journalism. I might as well stick to what I love, because this is not a job to me, this is a love.

Parlé: Wouldn't that be a little weird though? I mean if I’m a professor and I’m teaching

Lenny Green, I'm probably just gonna take a seat and take notes from you.

Lenny Green:  I appreciate the compliments but you know what, everybody has to learn and I’m a student of life. I feel like if you get to a point in life where you feel like you know it all then you might as well give up the game. I don't know it all, I’m still trying to learn and I study just like everybody else studies, matter fact I’m more focused now, I’m a grown man now. All that little kiddie stuff that was coming from high school going into college I’ve worked out of my system. I can focus on what I’m trying to achieve. So I think it’s a footnote, not for a Lenny Green but for anybody, if you didn't finish or you want to go back. I used to scratch my head when I first went to college wondering why there were senior citizens in my class, but now I understand, it’s about that self-fulfillment. That's what my goal is, my goal is to achieve some personal things that I can be proud of and that when I have children I can pass on to them. That tells them that they need to strive for a higher goal and I think that's what we're all trying to reach. I'm not at my pinnacle point; I’m still trying to reach the next level. To some that may sound crazy but they don't understand, the game changed, and the game changes all the time. Look at the economy; look at how many people are unemployed. They are now at a stage in their life where they have to change their occupation to survive. That's just a testament that you always have to stay on top of everything and you can't close the door and say that you're never ever gonna do something because you don't know. If I have to go to McDonald's—I’ve worked at Burger King before—if I have to do that again in order to get a check then guess what? I’m not too proud to do what I gotta do to make ends meet.

Parlé: While you were doing the show at Kingsborough, was there ever a time where you were singing on air?

Lenny Green: Never. (laughs). Here's the crazy part, I don't sing anymore. The only time I’ll sing is if I’m in the shower, and the only way someone will hear me is if you're my neighbor. I've lost the confidence. You know they say if you don't use it, you lose it. That's really true, you really will lose it if you don't hold onto it. It’s just like everything else. An athlete can't take off three years and come back, it’s just like singing. Now I do have another interest in music, and that is playing the saxophone. I think that's the sexist instrument that one could play; they say that's the closest thing to the human voice. I may not be able to sing, but I can talk a good game. I can't sing anymore but the next thing close to singing is taking some lessons and picking up that saxophone. I have a lot of images of saxophones in my house, I don't know why. I buy a lot of paintings and sculptures and it’s always a saxophone. I sat back one day just chilling and I said 'wow, I got a lot of saxophones in here. It must be for a reason.' I think my connection to singing would be as close to playing the saxophone. So look out for that.

Parlé: How'd you end up here at Kiss? I know you worked with a few other radio stations before, but how'd you eventually end up here.

Lenny Green: Divine intervention. We never get to where we are going by ourselves. Anybody who thinks that they get their by themselves is playing themselves. I been blessed to meet some people along the way who took out time to give me time. And time is something that is so valuable, you never get it back, once you give your time, you can't get it back, it’s a part of history, a part of the past. I'm grateful for the guys that I've met who gave me a piece of their time, gave me advice, a moment to listen and critique my work. I think my life has been measured by how God has continued to bless me. My first radio opportunity came in Richmond, Virginia. Stayed there for a little while, from there I went to Connecticut—stayed in Connecticut for like ten years and then that radio station folded. When that station folded I had worked with a cat who was very close to the program director at Kiss, his name was Vinny Brown. My friend and him were very close. I had worked with this cat at another time in my life before I was working in Connecticut. I had worked as an administrative assistant at a radio syndication company and he was doing interviews and he would bring in the artists, interview them and use the audio bites for the various programming that he was producing. I kinda became friends with him because with radio being my passion I loved interviewing people. So I said, 'anytime you can't make an interview, I can do it'. Eventually he gave me an opportunity to do some interviews and we became good friends. I said all that to say, he was good friends with the programming director here at Kiss. When I lost my job in Connecticut, I was having a conversation with him and he said 'when you're in New York, I'll call up my friend Vinnie Brown. I was like, 'you know Vinny Brown? All these years?'

Things happen for a reason, at least in my life. My buddy called up Vinny Brown like he promised, I had a 2 minute conversation with him and next thing I know I was coming in the next day for an interview. Came in the next day and he said, ' look the only thing I can offer you in a part time position'. That was 13 years ago. And the gentleman who helped me, now works with me. He actually books all my interviews. His name is Kevin Simmons. Again, it’s keeping a wonderful network of people around you. I been blessed and that's how it happened.

Parlé: Did you have anything to do with the name Kissing After Dark or was that around before you?

Lenny Green: I can't take credit for that, Kissing After Dark was already here before I came around. The first love show was called New York After Dark and that was hosted by a young lady by the name of Yvonne Mobley. After that they changed the name to Kissing After Dark and that was hosted by Sheila who now does our mid days. Every time Sheila went on vacation or they put her on a different slot they would ask me to fill in for her. The reaction was pretty good. I was the first man to host Kissing After Dark that was an opportunity of a lifetime and again that was at 7pm, 7 has been the magic number, by God's grace everything has worked out. I worked Kissing After Dark for 10 years, then did a syndicated show with Brian McKnight and then Kissing After Dark came back this year, renamed slightly, its now Kissing After Dark with Lenny Green and I'm proud to say it’s now syndicated.