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Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. The group originally formed in 1994 as Kara's Flowers while they were still attending high school. With a line-up of Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick, they signed to Reprise Records and released an album, The Fourth World, in 1997. After a tepid response to the album, the band parted with their record label and attended college. In 2001, the band regrouped and added James Valentine to the lineup, and pursued a new direction under the name Maroon 5.
Maroon 5 signed with Octone Records and recorded their debut album in 2002. The album, Songs About Jane, was released in June 2002. The album's lead single - "Harder to Breathe" - received heavy airplay, which helped propel the album to number 6 on the US Billboard 200. The album's second and third singles, "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved", were worldwide hits in 2004. The band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005. For the next few years, the band toured extensively worldwide in support of Songs About Jane and issued two live recordings: 2004's 1.22.03.Acoustic and 2005's Live – Friday the 13th. In 2006, drummer, percussionist and backing vocalist Ryan Dusick departed the band - he was replaced by Matt Flynn. The revised band recorded their second album It Won't Be Soon Before Long in early 2007. The album was released in May and peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200. The album's first single, "Makes Me Wonder", became the band's first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Hands All Over, the band's third studio album, was released in September 2010, peaking at number 2 on the Billboard 200. The album's lead single "Misery" was a top 15 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 while the album's fourth single, "Moves like Jagger", became the band's second single to top the Hot 100 and sold over 8.5 million copies worldwide as of June 2012. The band released their fourth studio album Overexposed in June 2012. The album peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Its first two singles, "Payphone" and "One More Night", were both international hits and peaked at 2 and 1 respectively; the latter single became their third number-one in the United States. Since debuting in 2002, the band has sold over 10 million albums in the United States.
General Info
The four original members of Maroon 5 met while attending Brentwood School in Los Angeles. While attending Shooting Stars School, Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael joined up with Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick to form Kara's Flowers, a pop band. The name was taken from a groupie that the band had a "collective crush" on. 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 De Nicola (Dirty Dancing). While shopping for a deal for the band, Rob Cavallo's management team heard the record Allen and DeNicola produced, which eventually led to their deal with Reprise Records and producer Rob Cavallo. 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 1997, they had morphed into band with a style reminiscent of 1960s Britpop. Despite high expectations from the band and record company, the album failed to catch on and their lead single, "Soap Disco", was a failure. According to Levine, the failure of the album was "a huge disappointment" that nearly led them to break up in 1998. The album sold around 5,000 copies and they were dropped after only one month.
When they returned in 2000, they brought those influences with them. Sam Farrar (bassist of the band Phantom Planet and - since 2012 - a touring member of Maroon 5) says that the Aaliyah song "Are You That Somebody?" affected the band and influenced the song "Not Coming Home." 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. 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. 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'". 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. 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." 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".
History
2002–2006: Songs About Jane and Dusick's departure
James 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", which became the most successful release off the album and propelled the band to superstardom) that he invited them to open for him during his early 2003 tour. The first single "Harder to Breathe" slowly started to pick up airplay which helped spur sales of the album. By March 2004, Songs About Jane 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, 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. Mayer invited the band to open for him again in 2004. 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. 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, while "Harder to Breathe" made the Top 20 singles charts in the US and UK, and Top 40 in Australia and New Zealand. The album also eventually climbed to No. 1 in the UK. The second single, "This Love", reached No. 5 in the US, No. 3 in the UK, and No. 8 in Australia. The third single, "She Will Be Loved," reached the Top 5 in both the US and the UK, and went to No. 1 in Australia. The fourth single, "Sunday Morning," reached the Top 40 in the US, UK, and Australia. 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. On May 13, 2005, in Santa Barbara, California, the band wrapped up the Honda Civic Tour, which they headlined. 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. Over the years of touring with the band their drummer, percussionist and backing vocalist Ryan Dusick had been suffering from the touring life. The strains of non-stop touring aggravated an old sports injury. After several absences from the tour with Ryland Steen (drummer of James Valentine's former band, Square - Ryland is currently a member of the California-USA-based ska punk band, Reel Big Fish) 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.
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. According to Levine, the follow-up to Songs About Jane is "sexier and stronger", gaining inspiration from iconic 80s artists such as Prince, Shabba Ranks, Michael Jackson and Talking Heads. Before its release, "Makes Me Wonder" was the No. 1 selling single and video on iTunes. It was also the No. 1 selling album, with more than 50,000 digital pre-sales. After its release, the album broke iTunes sales records its week of release, selling over 101,000 albums. 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. "Makes Me Wonder" has also achieved No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100, and Hot Dance Club Play charts.
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. They followed with a concert that streamed live via MSN Music in mid-June. On July 10, they opened for The Police, in Miami, and followed with an acoustic performance at the Miami club, Studio A, the next day. Their 2007 It Won't Be Soon Before Long world tour began September 29 in Detroit and concluded November 10 in Las Vegas. 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. 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. 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." Maroon 5's third studio album was recorded in 2009 in Switzerland, where the band were joined by record producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. 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. 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. On October 1, the band performed live at the Rock in Rio concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 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. The band 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. 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 playing in 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 touring member, PJ Morton. 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. Levine stated the album is their "most diverse and poppiest album yet." 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. It soon topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, beating out PSY's "Gangnam Style", and stayed there for 9 weeks consecutively, tying up with Carly Rae Jepsen's hit single "Call Me Maybe".
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 and close friend Sam Farrar – who is also the bassist of the band Phantom Planet – on guitars, occasionally on the bass guitar, backing vocals, turntables and providing samples and other special effects. Sam also co-wrote and co-produced a few of the band's songs on all of their studio albums and remixed one of their songs, which is called "Woman", on Call and Response: The Remix Album, released in 2008. On August 31, 2012 – during a show in Argentina – Farrar filled-in for Mickey Madden on the bass guitar for the very first time – he subsequently filled-in for Mickey on the next few shows of the tour. 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". The project encouraged fans to film their own segments for inclusion in the official music video for "Daylight", directed by Jonas Åkerlund. Uploads were officially closed on October 8, 2012. "Daylight" was performed for the first time as a single on November 8, 2012, during an episode of the US version of The Voice and the official video had its premiere on December 10, 2012. On July 5, 2012, Maroon 5 announced that they had begun work on their fifth studio album, a close follow-up to Overexposed, and on October 10, 2012, Jesse Carmichael confirmed that he would be returning to the band after they complete their Overexposed World Tour (just 3 days later, the first part of the tour ended on October 13, 2012 in Sydney, Australia). He will rejoin in time for the band to record their fifth studio album and to tour in support of it.
On April 1, 2013, it was announced that Maroon 5 will headline the 12th Annual Honda Civic Tour with special guest Kelly Clarkson. The tour will begin on August 1, 2013, in St. Louis, Missouri.
In an interview with MTV News, James Valentine stated that the band is writing for their upcoming fifth studio album: "The stuff we're working on now, it definitely has gone maybe a little darker in its sound, maybe back a little bit more to what we kind of did on Songs About Jane, but at this point we do have all kinds of different songs and it is early."
Band Members
Adam Levine – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar (1994–present)
Jesse Carmichael – keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1994–present; on hiatus since 2012, plans to return in 2013)
Mickey Madden – bass guitar (1994–present)
James Valentine – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
Matt Flynn – drums, percussion (2006–present; touring member from 2004 to 2006)
Former members
Ryan Dusick – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1994–2006)
Touring members
Current
PJ Morton – keyboards, backing vocals (2010–present; since 2012, temporarily filling-in for Jesse Carmichael)
Sam Farrar (from Phantom Planet) – guitars, bass guitar (occasionally), backing vocals, turntables, samples and other special effects (2012–present; Sam is a close friend of Maroon 5; he co-wrote and co-produced a few of the band's songs on all of their studio albums and remixed one of their songs, which is called "Woman", on Call and Response: The Remix Album, released in 2008. 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 – he subsequently filled-in for Mickey on the next few shows of the tour)
Former
Tommy "Boom-Boom" King – keyboards, backing vocals (Back To School Tour in 2009)
Adrian Young (from No Doubt) – drums, percussion (Adrian filled-in for Matt Flynn on a few shows of the Back To School Tour, 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)
Ryland Steen (from Reel Big Fish) – drums, percussion (Ryland was one of the drummers, who filled-in for Ryan Dusick on a few shows of the band's Songs About Jane Tour, before Matt Flynn became their touring - and later official - drummer. Steen was also a member of guitarist James Valentine's former band, Square)
Josh Day – drums, percussion (Josh also filled-in for Ryan Dusick on another few shows of the band's Songs About Jane Tour)
