Adam Levine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Adam Levine | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Adam Noah Levine |
| Born | March 18, 1979 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Rock, Soul, Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Vocalist Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar |
| Years active | 1997 - present |
| Label(s) | A&M Octone |
| Associated acts | Maroon 5, Kara's Flowers, Kanye West , Natasha Bedingfield, Ying Yang Twins, Alicia Keys & Rihanna |
| Website | maroon5.com |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| First Act, Shure | |
Adam Noah Levine (born March 18, 1979) is an American singer. He is the lead singer and guitarist for the pop rock group Maroon 5.[1]
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[edit] Early Life
Born in Los Angeles, California to Patsy Noah and Fred Levine, he has one brother, Michael; a stepsister, Julia; and two half siblings, Sam and Liza. His stepmother and father own two fashion stores in California. Because of this, Levine claims he's always been ahead of the fashion curve. In 2005, he and Ryan Seacrest of American Idol attended the inauguration of M. Fredric, his parents' second store, in Studio City.[2] Levine's background is Jewish[3].
Levine attended the private Brentwood School, where he met the original members of the band Kara's Flowers: Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick. On his first day at Brentwood School, Levine met the third member of Maroon 5, Mickey Madden. Levine is noted as describing Mickey as a "musical encyclopedia" and it is thought that Levine's influence played a major role in Madden acquiring his first bass guitar soon after.
[edit] Early bands
Levine first became friends with John Ondrasik, from Five For Fighting who played clarinet in Regis High School Orchestra, while playing together at the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts. It was from John Ondrasik that Levine learned the high-pitched vocal style which he would use later in his career. Levine, Madden, Ondrasik and Carmichael played their first show together as Edible Nuns at their Jr. High dance, playing only cover versions of nineties favorites such as Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains.
As the trio progressed through high school, the drummer left the band. He was replaced by Amy Wood, a friend of one of the current members. She would soon leave the band and again the group was one drummer short, leaving a window of opportunity open for Adam. He would reconnect with Ryan Dusick, who completed the band on drums.
[edit] Kara's Flowers
In 1997, the band released an album titled The Fourth World. The album reached little success, and its only single "Soap Disco" failed. Disappointed with the results of their album, the band went on hiatus and went their separate ways.
Levine and bandmate Carmichael left North Carolina to study at Five Towns College, a small liberal arts school in Dix Hills, Long Island, New York. This was reportedly the first time the two Los Angeles natives were exposed to a completely different music scene, a cultural awakening for the two young men. On MTV News in 2002, Levine said, "That's when I started waking up to the whole hip hop, R&B thing. We had friends named Chaos and Shit. It was not Brentwood High."[2]
After dropping out of Five Towns College, Adam and Jesse reunited with Mickey and Ryan, but added former Square guitarist, James Valentine in 1999. Renaming the band Maroon 5, Adam and his friends began to compile all of their newfound musical influences into their music. Levine's expressive voice helped the band to achieve much success in the record charts. Their debut album, Songs about Jane, is about Levine's ex-girlfriend, a girl who, as he says, has inspired him over the years, and most of the lyrics of the songs are inspired by their stormy relationship. Currently, Levine is promoting the new Maroon 5 album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, which was released on May 22, 2007.
[edit] Other work
In 2004, Maroon 5 received a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
In 2005, Levine featured on the Ying Yang Twins song "Live Again" and later appeared on Kanye West's Late Registration album, on the third single, "Heard 'Em Say". He is also featured in the song "Wild Horses" on Alicia Keys' third album Alicia Keys: MTV Unplugged.
In 2006, he also co-wrote the track "Say It Again" on Natasha Bedingfield's album N.B.. He also performed the background vocals on this song.
In 2007, he appeared on the 33rd season premiere of Saturday Night Live in an SNL Digital Short called Iran So Far with Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen and Jake Gyllenhaal. Levine played himself while singing a humorous verse of a "love song" for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In 2008, he appeared on Comedy Central's "Night With Too Many Stars".
[edit] References
- ^ Soylent Communications (2007). "Adam Levine" nndb.com {accessed February 27, 2007)
- ^ a b Amy Lyons (2005). "Idol chatter, rock frontman mark store opening" studiocitysun.com {accessed February 27, 2007)
- ^ Nate Bloom (2004). "Jews on the Big Screen" JVibe.com {accessed April 26, 2006)
[edit] External links
- Maroon 5 performance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno
- y’know - interviews with the famous. C.B.Liddell (2008-02-10).
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Levine, Adam Noah |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 18, 1979 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
