Maroon 5 — Bellazon

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Maroon 5

Origin Los Angeles, California, USA

Genre(s) Pop Rock

Funk Rock

Soul Rock

Years active 1995 - 2001 as Kara's Flowers, 2001 - Present as Maroon 5

Label(s) Sony BMG/Octone (2004-2006)

MCA Music, Inc./A&M

Website maroon5.com

Members

Adam Levine

James Valentine

Jesse Carmichael

Mickey Madden

Matt Flynn

Former members

Ryan Dusick (1997-2006)

Maroon 5 is a Grammy-winning soul-influenced rock band from Los Angeles, California comprising five members: Adam Levine (lead vocals, guitar), James Valentine (guitar, backing vocals), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards, backing vocals), Mickey Madden (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Flynn (drums). The band is best known for their hit singles "Harder to Breathe", "This Love", "She Will Be Loved", "Sunday Morning" and most recently "Makes Me Wonder".

Maroon 5 has won several awards for its debut album Songs About Jane. Released in June 2002, the album enjoyed major chart success, going gold, platinum, and triple platinum in many countries around the world.[1]

In support of Songs About Jane, Maroon 5 toured extensively throughout 2003 - 2005, in which a live album was released, entitled Live - Friday The 13th. Original member Ryan Dusick left the band in September 2006, due to injuries sustained by the constant touring, and was replaced by Matt Flynn.

After a hiatus from the music scene, Maroon 5 returned with new music for the first time in five years with the release of It Won't Be Soon Before Long in May 2007. The second set debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 429,484 copies.

Contents

Kara's Flowers

Main article: Kara's Flowers

Four members of Maroon 5 have known each other since attending junior high school together in Los Angeles. While attending Brentwood School, Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael hooked up with Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick to form Kara's Flowers[2], a garage/grunge band that played its first gig at the Whisky a Go Go on September 16, 1995. Levine sang with a deeper "grunge" voice at this time.

The band signed with Reprise Records while still in high school and released its only album The Fourth World in the middle of 1997 just as three of the four members were about to graduate (Ryan Dusick was completing his second year at UCLA). A video was made for the opening track "Soap Disco", but it did not find success on MTV. Despite support slots on tours with Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger, the album failed to take off commercially and in 1999 the band parted company with Reprise Records. (Due to the later popularity of Maroon 5, more copies of The Fourth World were sold after Songs About Jane's release than during the years prior.)

After the little success of Kara's Flowers, the pressure to make better music was rising for the band.

After being released from Reprise Records, the four boys attended different colleges across the USA. They discovered new musical styles and developed a love for Motown, pop, R&B, soul, and gospel, experiences that would greatly influence the style and sound of Maroon 5. The four original members of Kara's Flowers remained in touch and started playing together again in 2001. Jesse Carmichael switched from guitar to keyboards, so a need arose for an additional guitarist. James Valentine, formerly with the band Square, joined them to fill that void.

Formation

When Valentine joined Kara's Flowers in 2001, the band adopted the name Maroon, changing it a few months later to Maroon 5 due to a name conflict. The band played showcase gigs in New York City and Los Angeles. Levine credited the interim period with influencing the band's new style in an interview with VH1:

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Beyoncè & Maroon Five

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