Maroon 5 are an
[1][2][3] American
pop-rock band from
Los Angeles,
California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and guitarist
Adam Levine, keyboardist
Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist
Mickey Madden, and drummer
Ryan Dusick formed a
garage band called Kara's Flowers and released
one album in 1997. After a brief period they re-formed with guitarist
James Valentine, and pursued a new, more pop-oriented direction as Maroon 5. In 2002 they released their debut album
Songs About Jane, which contained four hit singles: "
Harder to Breathe", "
This Love", "
She Will Be Loved" and "
Sunday Morning"; it also enjoyed major chart success, going
gold, platinum, and triple platinum in many countries around the world.
[4]
In support of
Songs About Jane, Maroon 5 toured extensively
throughout 2003–2005 and during that period of time two live albums were
released. The band won the
Grammy Award for
Best New Artist in 2005. Dusick left the band in September 2006, citing injuries sustained by constant touring, and was replaced by
Matt Flynn. Maroon 5's second studio album
It Won't Be Soon Before Long was released in 2007, with the singles "
Makes Me Wonder", which was their first single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "
Won't Go Home Without You" and "
Wake Up Call".
The band performed live in two tours between June and November 2007.
During that time a compilation of previously unreleased songs,
The B-Side Collection, were released.
Two more live albums and a remix album were issued in 2008. Maroon 5's third studio album
Hands All Over
was released in the United States on September 21, 2010. Since debuting
in 2002, the band has sold over 10 million albums in the United States.
Maroon 5's biggest hit yet is "
Moves Like Jagger" featuring
Christina Aguilera, selling over 8 million copies worldwide as of June 2012, therefore establishing itself among the
best-selling singles of all time.
[5]
On March 26, 2012, Maroon 5 announced their fourth studio album,
Overexposed. It was released on June 26, 2012.
[6] The lead single "
Payphone", which features rapper
Wiz Khalifa, debuted at No. 3 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and eventually rose to number two on the chart. The second single from the album, "
One More Night", became the band's third number one single on the
Billboard Hot 100.
History
1989–2002: Kara's Flowers and formation of Maroon 5
The four original members of Maroon 5 have known each other since attending
Brentwood School in Los Angeles.
[7][8] While attending Brentwood School,
Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael joined up with Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick to form Kara's Flowers,
[9] a
pop band. The name was taken from a girl that the band had a "collective crush" on.
[8] The band played its first gig at
Whisky a Go Go
on September 16, 1995. While they were playing a beach party in Malibu,
indie producer Tommy Allen heard them play and offered to manage them
and record a complete record with his partner, songwriter John DeNicola
(Dirty Dancing). While shopping for a deal for the band, Bob Cavallo's
management team heard the record Allen and DeNicola produced, which
eventually led to their deal with
Reprise Records and producer
Rob Cavallo.
[10] Very early on, their sound was what Carmichael called "
Fugazi [the sound] meets
Sesame Street [the lyrics]". However, by the release of
The Fourth World in 1996, they had morphed into band with a style reminiscent of 1960s
Britpop.
[8] Despite high expectations from the band and record company, the album failed to catch on and their
lead single, "Soap Disco", was a failure.
[11] According to Levine, the failure of the album was "a huge disappointment" that nearly led them to break up in 1998.
[8][12] The album sold around 5,000 copies and they were dropped after only six months.
[13]
When they
two returned in 2000, they brought those influences with them.[12] Sam Farrar (bassist of the band Phantom Planet, which is currently on hiatus, and former roommate of Levine and Valentine) says that the Aaliyah song "Are You That Somebody?" affected the band and influenced the song "Not Coming Home."[8] Producer Tim Sommer signed them to a demo deal with MCA records and produced three tracks with them in Los Angeles in the middle of 2000 with Mark Dearnley engineering. Against Sommer's advice, MCA declined to pick up the band,
and these tracks were never released. Jordan Feldstein, a friend of
Levine's family and a junior agent at ICM, stopped by one of the band's
rehearsals and was so surprised by what he heard that he quit his job in
order to manage the band full-time.
[12] The band put together a demo that was rejected by several labels, before falling into the hands of
Octone Records executives
James Diener, Ben Berkman and David Boxenbaum.
[12]
While looking for talent for the new Octone label, Berkman was given a
bunch of demos by the brother of a former colleague at Columbia Records
and the song that caught his attention was "a genius song called 'Sunday
Morning'".
[13]
Berkman was surprised the song was credited to Kara's Flowers because
they sounded completely different from the band he had heard while at
Warner Brothers.
Berkman encouraged Diener and Boxenbaum to fly out to L.A. to watch a showcase gig at the
Viper Room for the four-piece Kara's Flowers. After watching Levine onstage, they were convinced. Berkman told
HitQuarters
he believed what the band needed was a "fifth member to play the guitar
and free up the singer, so he could be the star I perceived him to be."
Octone immediately insisted that the band change its name to break with
its pop past. Also, the label began looking for a full-time guitarist
to enable Levine to focus on performing as the frontman. James Valentine
(from the L.A. band
Square) was recruited for the job.
[12]
On his joining the band, Valentine commented: "I became friends with
them and we sort of started jamming together, it was very much like I
was cheating on my band, we were having sort of an affair and I
eventually quit my other band to join up with them."
[12]
Even still, the only songs of their repertoire that showcased the
band's new direction were "Sunday Morning" and the soon-to-be-written
"She Will Be Loved"—neither of which the label approved of as a first
single. The band toured for a full year before entering the studio with
producer Matt Wallace. Levine's frustration with Berkman's demands for a
lead single inspired him to write just that—a song called "Harder to
Breathe".
2002–2006: Songs About Jane and Dusick's departure
"Between the time that we started making the album [
Songs About Jane]
in 2001 and the time the album reached the crest of its success in
2004, we went from being starving musicians wondering what the future
held to riding a wave of success beyond our wildest expectations."
—Ryan Dusick, Maroon 5's original drummer, who officially left the band in 2006 due to injuries sustained from constant touring
[14]
Maroon 5 was constantly on tour, after releasing their album in
mid-2002. Their first major tour was the 2002 Jeep World Outside, a
"grassroots" summer festival tour with such acts as
O.A.R.,
Ziggy Marley,
Train and headliner
Sheryl Crow.
[15]
Valentine attended
Berklee College of Music with
John Mayer
in 1996, where they developed a rapport. In 2002, the two reconnected
at a Mayer radio appearance. After Mayer heard their album, he was so
impressed (particularly by "This Love") that he invited them to open for
him during his early 2003 tour.
[8] The first single "
Harder to Breathe"
slowly started to pick up airplay which helped spur sales of the album.
By March 2004, the album had reached the Top 20 of the
Billboard 200 and "Harder to Breathe" had made the Top 20 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles charts. The album peaked at No. 6 on the
Billboard 200 in September 2004,
[16] 26 months after its release; this was the longest period between an album's release and its initial Top 10 appearance since
SoundScan results were included in the
Billboard 200 in 1991.
[17] Mayer invited the band to open for him again in 2004.
[15]
Over the next three years, the band toured virtually non-stop,
including visits to seventeen countries. During this time, the band
toured with
Michelle Branch,
Nikka Costa,
Vanessa Carlton,
Graham Colton, and
The Rolling Stones.
[18] Others they have toured alongside include
Cowboy Mouth,
Gavin DeGraw,
Matchbox Twenty,
Sugar Ray,
Counting Crows,
Phantom Planet,
The Hives,
Dashboard Confessional,
Big City Rock,
The Like,
Simon Dawes,
Jason Mraz,
The Thrills,
Thirsty Merc,
Marc Broussard,
The Donnas, The RedWest, Michael Tolcher and
Guster.
Songs About Jane eventually reached No. 2 on the Australian albums charts,
[19] while "Harder to Breathe" made the Top 20 singles charts in the US
[20] and UK,
[19] and Top 40 in Australia and New Zealand.
[19] The album also eventually climbed to No. 1 in the UK.
[19] The second single, "
This Love", reached No. 5 in the US,
[20] No. 3 in the UK, and No. 8 in Australia.
[19] The third single, "
She Will Be Loved," reached the Top 5 in both the US
[20] and the UK, and went to No. 1 in Australia.
[19] The fourth single, "
Sunday Morning," reached the Top 40 in the US,
[20] UK, and Australia.
[19]
Maroon 5 also played
Live 8, in
Philadelphia in 2005. Their set included a cover of
Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World" and frontman Levine performed with one of his heroes, and the closing act,
Stevie Wonder.
[21] On May 13, 2005, in
Santa Barbara, California, the band wrapped up the
Honda Civic Tour, which they headlined.
[22] On June 9, 2005, the band performed at the
American Film Institute's tribute to filmmaker
George Lucas. Lucas himself had selected Maroon 5 for the event, as they were his children's favorite band at the time.
[23]
Over the years of touring with the band, drummer, percussionist and
back-up vocalist Ryan Dusick had been suffering from the touring life.
[24] The strains of non-stop touring aggravated an old sports injury.
[7]
After several absences from the tour with Ryland Steen and Josh Day
taking his place, Dusick officially left Maroon 5 in September 2006.
Matt Flynn, the former drummer of
Gavin DeGraw and
The B-52's, joined the band as Dusick's replacement.
[25]
2006–2008: It Won't Be Soon Before Long
After recording for most of 2006, Maroon 5's second album,
It Won't Be Soon Before Long, was released worldwide in May 2007 by A&M/Octone Records.
[26] According to Levine, the follow-up to
Songs About Jane is "sexier and stronger",
[27] gaining inspiration from iconic 80s artists such as
Prince,
Shabba Ranks,
Michael Jackson and
Talking Heads.
[28] Before its release, "
Makes Me Wonder" was the No. 1 selling single and video on iTunes.
[27] It was also the No. 1 selling album, with more than 50,000 digital pre-sales.
[27] After its release, the album broke iTunes sales records its week of release, selling over 101,000 albums.
[29]
The first single, "Makes Me Wonder," was released to radio March 27,
2007. The making of the music video was previewed on MTV's
Total Request Live, and premiered on the show March 29. The song debuted at number 84 on the
Billboard
Hot 100, the lowest debuting single of the group's five chart entries.
In the first week of May, the single skyrocketed from a lowly position
of No. 64 to No. 1, the biggest jump in
Billboard history at the time.
[30] "Makes Me Wonder" has also achieved No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100, and
Hot Dance Club Play charts.
[31]
To support the album, the band performed on a "six-date club tour" in
which they visited small venues in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Minneapolis, Miami, and New York City in early June 2007.
[32] They followed with a concert that streamed live via
MSN Music in mid-June.
[33] On July 10, they opened for
The Police, in Miami,
[34] and followed with an acoustic performance at the Miami club, Studio A, the next day.
[35] Their 2007
It Won't Be Soon Before Long world tour began September 29 in Detroit and concluded November 10 in
Las Vegas.
[36] The Hives, as the tour's special guest, performed on all of the dates while
Sara Bareilles,
Kevin Michael, and
Phantom Planet each performed in a portion of the tour.
[37] They toured with
Dashboard Confessional in their world tour and on March 28, 2008, they began touring with
OneRepublic,
Brandi Carlile, and Ry Cuming. They have also performed "Makes Me Wonder" on season 6 of American Idol and "
If I Never See Your Face Again" on season 7 of American Idol. The re-release of the album featured a new duet version of "
If I Never See Your Face Again" with
Rihanna; the new version of the song also appeared on the re-release of Rihanna's album
Good Girl Gone Bad. They also released as the album's 5th single "
Goodnight Goodnight", which appeared in the opening of "CSI:NY" episode "Page Turner."
2008–2011: Hands All Over
Levine has stated that he believes the band is reaching its peak and may make one more album before disbanding.
[38]
He explained: "Eventually I want to focus on being a completely
different person because I don’t know if I want to do this into my 40s
and 50s and beyond, like the Rolling Stones."
[39] Maroon 5's third studio album was recorded in 2009 in Switzerland, where the band were joined by record producer
Robert John "Mutt" Lange.
[40] The album, titled
Hands All Over, was released on September 21, 2010. The album's first single, "
Misery", was released on June 22, 2010. Maroon 5 toured with
Train for the summer of 2011, from July 22 to September 24.
[41] Christina Aguilera is featured on Maroon 5's single "
Moves Like Jagger". It premiered live on
The Voice June 21, 2011 and reached the number one position on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 2011. Adam Levine was also featured in
Gym Class Heroes' song "
Stereo Hearts", which peaked at number four on the
Billboard Hot 100.
On September 8, 2011, Jesse stated that the band is likely to begin recording their next album within the year.
[42] On October 1, the band performed live at the
Rock in Rio concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
[43] Maroon 5 was a last hour addition, chosen to fill the vacant spot left by
Jay-Z
after he cancelled his appearance for personal reasons believed to be a
diary clash, but rumored to be a performance in a poll for bands the
audiences wanted to see in the festival.
[44]
The band recently launched a
Snapple flavor named "Tea Will Be Loved" in support of
Feeding America.
Maroon 5 performed "Moves Like Jagger" and "Stereo Hearts" with
Travie McCoy on November 5, 2011 on
Saturday Night Live. They also performed "Moves Like Jagger" and "Stereo Hearts" with
Christina Aguilera and
Gym Class Heroes on November 20, 2011 on the
American Music Awards, where they won their first AMA for Favorite Pop Band/Duo/Group. The band also performed "Moves Like Jagger" at the 2012
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
[45]
During a promotion by Coca-Cola in the March of 2011, the band
participated in a 24–hour session during which, with the help of
musician (keyboardist and background vocalist)
PJ Morton,
they had 24 hours to write a completely original song. After their time
was up, the song "Is Anybody Out There" was released on the Coca-Cola
website for free download. Morton, who has played with the band in
concerts and other live performances since 2010, is now temporarily
replacing
Jesse Carmichael,
who has currently taken a longer break from performing with the band –
that was officially confirmed by the group in March 2012.
In 2011, Maroon 5 also recorded a song for
The Hunger Games soundtrack (
The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond), called "Come Away To The Water" (feat. Rozzi Crane). The soundtrack was released on March 20, 2012 (March 19 in the UK).
At the
54th Grammy Awards, on February 12, 2012, the group performed alongside
Foster the People and
The Beach Boys in a medley of Beach Boys songs to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
2012–present: Overexposed, and fifth studio album
On March 8, 2012, it was announced that Jesse Carmichael would take a
break from the band for an undetermined amount of time to focus more on
his studies of music and "spiritual healing." The band continued to
work on their fourth studio album with the help of their tour member,
PJ Morton.
[46]
Maroon 5 announced on March 26, 2012 – through their official website
and a Rolling Stone article – that their fourth album, titled
Overexposed, will be released on June 26, 2012.
[6][47] Levine stated the album is their "most diverse and poppiest album yet."
[6]
On April 16, 2012, Maroon 5 premiered their new song, "
Payphone", as the first single from
Overexposed on the hit television show, "
The Voice",
in which Adam Levine is one of the judges and coaches. The song debuted
at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and features rapper
Wiz Khalifa.
Their second single "
One More Night"
was released on June 19, 2012. At the start of their Overexposed World
Tour in South America, Maroon 5 introduced the newest addition in the
band to the audience: their old friend
Sam Farrar – from the band
Phantom Planet
– on guitars, backing vocals, turntables and providing other special
effects. Sam also co-wrote and co-produced a few of the band's songs on
their albums:
Hands All Over and
Overexposed. On August 31, 2012 – during a show in Argentina – Farrar filled-in for
Mickey Madden on the bass guitar for the very first time. Maroon 5 has announced that the third single from
Overexposed is going to be "
Daylight" and to promote that song, the band has launched a video project called "The Daylight Project".
On July 5, 2012, Maroon 5 announced that they had begun work on their
fifth studio album, a close follow up to their fourth album,
Overexposed.
[48]
On October 10, 2012, Jesse Carmichael confirmed that he would be
returning to the band after they get done touring to record their sixth
studio album.
Musical style and influences
Maroon 5 has cited
Michael Jackson,
The Police,
Talking Heads,
Aaliyah,
Oasis,
Shabba Ranks, and
Prince as influences.
[49] Frontman
Adam Levine has also cited
Stevie Wonder as one of his heroes.
[50]
Maroon 5's songs tend to be very guitar-heavy, often accompanied by
piano or synthesizer. The theme in all of their songs is love,
frequently lost love; songs like "
This Love", "
Makes Me Wonder", and "
Misery"
have a very cynical tone, often expressing dissatisfaction with a
relationship, while their more heartfelt and emotional songs such as "
She Will Be Loved" and "
Never Gonna Leave This Bed" express a longing for a romantic relationship. "
Makes Me Wonder"
has a secondary theme in which Levine expresses his disillusionment and
frustration with the state of American politics and the
Iraq War.
[51]
Maroon 5's sound changes from album to album.
Songs About Jane consists of songs about Levine's ex-girlfriend Jane. On
It Won't Be Soon Before Long, however, the songs are less personal, and are more electric with more use of synthesizers, creating a
retro feel.
[49] Hands All Over continues the band's lost love theme, along with songs about
infatuation, and was re-released with the song "
Moves Like Jagger", an
electropop song featuring
Christina Aguilera
which represents a drastic change in the band's sound, with more of a
dance feel to it. "It was one of those songs that was definitely a
risk," Levine said. "It's a bold statement. We've never really released a
song like that. But it's exciting to do something different, do
something new. I'm just glad that everyone likes it."
[52] When announcing their fourth album,
Overexposed, Valentine called the album "our most 'pop' record ever and we weren’t shy about really going for it."
[6]
Band members
Members
|
- Current members
- Adam Levine – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar (1994–present)
- Jesse Carmichael – keyboards, rhythm guitar (occasional), backing vocals (1994–present; on hiatus since 2012)
- Mickey Madden – bass guitar (1994–present)
- James Valentine – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
- Matt Flynn – drums, percussion (2006–present)
- Additional musicians
- PJ Morton – keyboards, backing vocals (2010–present; PJ was previously a touring-only member – now he is temporarily replacing Jesse Carmichael)
- Touring-only (or filling-in) musicians
Current:
- Sam Farrar – guitars, backing vocals, turntables and other special effects (2012–present; Sam is currently a touring-only member; he co-wrote and co-produced a few of the band's songs on their albums: Hands All Over and Overexposed. On August 31, 2012 – during a show in Argentina on the Overexposed World Tour – Sam filled-in for Mickey Madden on the bass guitar for the very first time)
Former:
- Tommy King – keyboards, backing vocals (Tommy played with the band on the whole Back To School Tour in 2009)
- Adrian Young (from No Doubt) – drums, percussion (Adrian filled-in for Matt Flynn for a few dates of the Back To School
Tour in 2009, due to Matt having to leave Maroon 5 for a short period
of time because of a "family emergency", as stated by the band on their
Official Website)
- Former members
- Ryan Dusick – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1994–2006)
Discography
- Maroon 5
- Kara's Flowers
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
Other awards
2004
2005
- Groovevolt Music and Fashion Award — Best Collaboration, Duo or Group for "She Will Be Loved"[55]
- NRJ Radio Awards — International Breakout Act & Best International Song for "This Love"[56]
2007
2011
2012
Tours
