Maroon 5 Biography
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is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Maroon 5 is a Grammy Award-winning pop band from
Los Angeles, California, and has won several awards for their debut album Songs
about Jane. Released in June 2002, Songs about Jane has enjoyed major chart
success, going Gold, Platinum, and Triple Platinum in many countries around the
world. Even their follow-up acoustic album 1.22.03.Acoustic, which features
live, unplugged versions of Songs about Jane, has reached Platinum.
Maroon 5 has constantly been on tour since they
formed in 2000, performing with the likes of John Mayer, Michelle Branch, Gavin
DeGraw, Phantom Planet, The Like, Jason Mraz, The Thrills and The Donnas. They
will be also be touring with The Rolling Stones in August 2005.
* * * *
Members
Adam Levine (vocals/guitar)
Jesse Carmichael (keyboards)
Mickey Madden (bass)
Ryan Dusick (drums)
James Valentine (guitar)
Kara's Flowers
Four members of Maroon 5 had been friends since
attending junior high school in Los Angeles at Brentwood School. Adam Levine
(vocals/guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards), Mickey Madden (bass) and Ryan
Dusick (drums) formed Kara's Flowers, a garage/grunge band that played its first
gig at the Whisky A Go-Go on September 16, 1995. (Adam Levine sang with a deeper
"grunge" voice at this time.)
The band signed with Reprise Records and released
its only album The Fourth World in the middle of 1997. A video for the opening
track "Soap Disco" was filmed but never had success on MTV Despite support slots
on tours by Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger, the album failed to take off
commercially. The album sold so little that more copies were sold in the
re-release by reprise after Songs about Jane was released and in 1999, the band
parted company with Reprise Records.
Opting for college instead, the four boys separated
to go to different music schools across the USA, where they each discovered a
love for Motown, Pop, R&B, Soul, and Gospel - a love that would greatly
influence the style and sound of Maroon 5. After graduating from school, the
four got back together and added a fifth member, guitarist James Valentine, to
become Maroon 5.
Maroon 5
Guitarist James Valentine joined Kara's Flowers and
the band renamed itself Maroon 5. The band played show case gigs in New York
City and Los Angeles. Adam Levine credited the interregnum for influencing the
band's new style in an interview with VH1. "During the time between our record
deals, I spent a lot of time in New York where I was exposed to an urban and
hip-hop culture in a way that had never happened to me in L.A. It turned me on
to an entirely new genre of music which has had a profound impact on my song
writing." The band signed with Octone Records, a New York independent label with
distribution through BMG and an artist development deal with Clive Davis' J
Records.
May 13th the band wrapped up the Honda Civic Tour,
which they headlined, in Santa Barbara, California.
Songs about Jane
The band recorded Songs about Jane at Rumbo
Recorders in Los Angeles with producer Matt Wallace, who had also produced for
Train, Blues Traveler and Third Eye Blind. After the release of the album in
mid-2002, the band toured with Michelle Branch and Nikki Costa. In early summer
2003, they toured with Graham Colton, John Mayer and Counting Crows. In August
2005, the band will be touring with The Rolling Stones.
Most of the material that wound up on Maroon 5's
debut album was directly inspired by Levine's tumultuous relationship with his
ex-girlfriend, Jane; "We were breaking up as the band entered the studio," he
explains. "After compiling a song list, we decided to name the album Songs about
Jane because it felt like the most honest statement we could make with the
title."
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
number 6 on the Billboard 200 in August 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.
Songs about Jane had also eventually made the top 10 Australian albums charts
while "Harder to Breathe" had made the top 20 singles charts in the UK, and top
40 in Australia and New Zealand. The album also eventually climbed to number 1
in the UK and Australia. The second single "This Love" had also made the US and
Australian top 10 and even UK and Dutch top 3 singles charts. The third single,
"She Will Be Loved", reached the top 5 in both the UK and the US, and went to
number 1 in Australia. The fourth single, "Sunday Morning", also reached the top
40 in the US, UK and Australia.
The group won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist
in 2005, and Songs about Jane has gone Gold, Platinum, and Triple Platinum (see
RIAA certification) in different countries around the English-speaking world.
"This Love" video
The music video for "This Love" featured lead
singer Adam Levine and his then real-life girlfriend model Kelly McGee in some
steamy sex scenes. The video used creative camera angles to show as much as
possible without actually revealing any of the couple's private parts, thereby
avoiding possible FCC action. A version of the video where a stream of
computer-generated flowers cover up more, however, was made for more
conservative markets such as some parts of Latin America.
More steamy scenes appeared in the video for "She
Will Be Loved", which featured a dangerous love triangle and some hot kisses
between Adam Levine and the very sultry Kelly Preston.
Band trivia
-
The name of the band is based on
Yellow 5, also known as Yellow Number Five, a fictional band (although
Yellow No. 5 is also the name of a genuine band) which is best known for
sharing their website with the web comic, Pokey the Penguin. The band
members have not revealed the reason for the choice of the colour, maroon.
-
Tourmates include John Mayer,
Michelle Branch, Gavin DeGraw, Phantom Planet, The Like, Jason Mraz, The
Thrills and The Donnas.
-
The band will be touring with The
Rolling Stones in 2005.
-
They've participated in (and
lost) MTV's Staremaster against fellow band and friends, Phantom Planet.
-
The day that they celebrated
their 10th year anniversary as a band (February 6, 2004), was the same day
that Songs about Jane went Platinum.
-
The band does not like the
cover-art of their CD.
* * * *
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_5
Date Article Copied:
July 11, 2005
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