Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine, drummer Matt Flynn, keyboardist PJ Morton, and bassist Sam Farrar. Original members Levine, Carmichael, bassist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick first came together as Kara's Flowers in 1994, while they were in high school.
After self-releasing their independent album We Like Digging?, the band signed to Reprise Records and released the album The Fourth World in 1997. The album garnered a tepid response, after which the record label dropped the band and the members focused on college. In 2001, the band re-emerged as Maroon 5, pursuing a different direction and adding guitarist Valentine. The band signed with Octone Records, an independent record label with a separate joint venture relationship with J Records, and released their debut album Songs About Jane in June 2002. Aided by the hit singles "Harder to Breathe," "This Love," and "She Will Be Loved," the album peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 chart and went quadruple platinum in 2005. In the same year, the band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In 2006, Dusick left the band after suffering from serious wrist and shoulder injuries and was replaced by Matt Flynn.
The band's second album It Won't Be Soon Before Long was released in May 2007. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, and the lead single "Makes Me Wonder" became the band's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2010, the band released their third album Hands All Over, to favorable reviews, re-releasing a year later to include the single "Moves like Jagger," which topped the Billboard Hot 100. In 2012, Carmichael left the group and was replaced by musician PJ Morton, as the band released the fourth album Overexposed, with the song "One More Night" topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine consecutive weeks.
In 2014, Carmichael rejoined the band alongside Morton to record the fifth album V (roman numeral pronounced "five"), with the band signed to Interscope Records and Levine's own label 222 Records. Following the release of V, it reached number one on the Billboard 200. In 2016, Maroon 5 recruited their long-time collaborator Sam Farrar, as the band continued for the sixth studio album Red Pill Blues, which was released in November 2017. With the addition of Morton and Farrar, the band's lineup increased to seven members. The successful singles of both albums "Sugar" and "Girls Like You" peaked at numbers two and one on the Hot 100 chart respectively. Madden announced his departure from the band in 2020 following his arrest on domestic violence charges, with Farrar becoming their new bassist. The band's seventh album, Jordi, was released in June 2021. Maroon 5 has sold more than 120 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. In January 2023, it was announced "Moves like Jagger" is the second most downloaded song of all time.
Adam Levine was introduced to Ryan Dusick by a mutual friend and guitarist, Adam Salzman. Levine was 15 years old, and Dusick was 16. Three of the five members of the band started playing together at age 12. The four original members of the band met while attending Brentwood School in Los Angeles. While attending Brentwood School, Levine and Jesse Carmichael joined with Mickey Madden and Dusick to form Kara's Flowers, a rock band. The name was taken from a girl that went to their high school that the band had a "collective crush" on. The band independently released an album, We Like Digging?, in late 1994. The band would play many shows through the next few years and would also record their official debut. While they were playing a beach party in Malibu, independent producer Tommy Allen heard them play and offered to manage them and record a complete record with his partner, songwriter John DeNicola, who is known for his work on Dirty Dancing (1987) – including "(I've Had) The Time of My Life." Producer Rob Cavallo's management team heard the record Allen and DeNicola produced, which eventually led Cavallo to offer them a deal with Reprise Records, re-recording the album. However, after the release of The Fourth World, during Levine and Madden's senior year of high school in 1997, it had morphed into a 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. The album sold around 5,000 copies and the band was dropped after six months.
Between 2000 and 2001, the band would play very sporadic shows, due to the members going to college. Dusick and Madden attended college locally at the University of California, Los Angeles, while Levine and Carmichael relocated to the East Coast to attend Five Towns College, in Dix Hills, Long Island, New York. While Levine and Carmichael were in New York, they began to take notice of the urban music surrounding them and later let the style influence the songs they wrote. Although their band, Kara's Flowers, lost the 2000 UCLA Spring Sing competition, the competition was stiff, since the overall winner was Sara Bareilles.
When the band returned in 2001, they brought those influences with them. Frequent collaborator and future member Sam Farrar (then only the bassist of the band Phantom Planet) explained 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 2001, with Mark Dearnley engineering. Against Sommer's advice, MCA declined to pick up the band, and these tracks were never released. The band put together a demo that was rejected by several labels, before being acquired by Octone Records executives James Diener, Ben Berkman, and David Boxenbaum. While looking for talent for the 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 "'Sunday Morning'" which he referred to as a "genius song." Berkman was surprised the song was credited to Kara's Flowers, because the band sounded completely different from the one he had heard while at Warner Bros. Records.
Berkman encouraged Diener and Boxenbaum to fly out to Los Angeles to watch a showcase gig at The Viper Room for the four-piece Kara's Flowers. After watching Levine onstage, they were convinced. Berkman 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 insisted that the band change its name to break with its pop past. 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. 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." After hearing Levine play, Valentine noticed his affinity for Phish and the two musicians bonded over the band. After briefly being known as simply "Maroon," the band changed their name to "Maroon 5." In an interview with Howard Stern, Levine revealed that the only person outside of the band to know the story behind the name change is Billy Joel.
Maroon 5 in concert in 2004. 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 broadcast. After Mayer heard their album, he was so impressed (particularly by "This Love," which became the most successful release off the album) 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 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 six 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. The album went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide. Mayer invited the band to open for him again in 2004. Over the next three years, the band toured, including visits to seventeen countries. During this time, the band toured with Michelle Branch, Graham Colton, and the Rolling Stones. Other acts the band toured alongside included Gavin DeGraw, Matchbox Twenty, Sugar Ray, Counting Crows, Phantom Planet, the Hives, Dashboard Confessional, Simon Dawes, the Thrills, Thirsty Merc, Marc Broussard, the Donnas, the RedWest, Michael Tolcher, and Guster.
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 to his shoulders and wrists sustained from constant touring. Songs About Jane reached No. 1 on the Australian albums (ARIA), 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 climbed to No. 1 in the UK. The second single, "This Love," reached number five in the US, number three in the UK, and number eight in Australia. The third single, "She Will Be Loved," reached number five in both the US and the UK, and number one in Australia. The fourth single, "Sunday Morning," reached the Top 40 in the US, UK, and Australia. Maroon 5 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 Stevie Wonder. On May 13, 2005, the band wrapped up the 2005 Honda Civic Tour, which it 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 it was 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 and Josh Day taking his place, Dusick left the band in September 2006. Matt Flynn, the former drummer of Gavin DeGraw and The B-52's, joined the band as Dusick's replacement.
After recording for eight months, Maroon 5's second album It Won't Be Soon Before Long was released worldwide in May 2007 by A&M Octone Records. Levine described the follow-up to Songs About Jane as "sexier and stronger," gaining inspiration from iconic 80s artists such as Prince, Shabba Ranks, Michael Jackson, and Talking Heads. Ann Powers writing for the Los Angeles Times said It Won't Be Soon Before Long is "An icy-hot blend of electro-funk and blue-eyed soul that works its cruel streak with the confidence of Daniel Craig's James Bond." 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 copies. The first single "Makes Me Wonder" was released to radio on March 27, 2007. The song debuted at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100. 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 ten-date club tour in which they visited small venues in Europe and the United States from April to June 2007. The band followed with a concert that streamed live via MSN Music in mid-June. On July 10, it opened for The Police in Miami, and followed with an acoustic performance at the Miami club, Studio A, the next day. The band headlined the It Won't Be Soon Before Long Tour, which took place in late 2007, where they toured 28 cities in North America. The tour began September 29, touring in 28 cities in North America and concluded November 10, 2007. 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. It toured with Dashboard Confessional in their world tour, and on March 28, 2008, it began touring with OneRepublic, Brandi Carlile, and Ry Cuming. The band has performed "Makes Me Wonder" on season 6 and "If I Never See Your Face Again" in season 7 of American Idol, which they also appeared on the show's special edition titled "Idol Gives Back" in the latter season. In May 2008, Maroon 5 released a new duet version of "If I Never See Your Face Again," with Rihanna. It appeared on both the band's re-released second album and Rihanna's re-release of her album Good Girl Gone Bad. The band's song "Goodnight Goodnight" appeared on The CW's fall 2008 advertisement. Maroon 5 also performed with the song in CSI: NY, where they guest-starred in the fifth season episode "Page Turner" in October 2008.
Levine stated that he believed the band was 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." Levine later dispelled any rumors of the band breaking up, saying: "I love what I do and think that, yes, it might be tiring and complicated at times [but] we don't have any plans on disbanding any time soon."
In January 2009, Maroon 5 performed at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., for the "Declare Yourself" event in honor of the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The band recorded a cover version of "The Way You Look Tonight," which appeared on the Frank Sinatra tribute album His Way, Our Way. It was also included on the soundtrack to the 2010 film Valentine's Day.
Maroon 5's third studio album was recorded in mid-2009 in Switzerland, where the band was joined by record producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. During the band's time on tour, they served as opening acts for the Back to School Tour in November, with Kate Earl and Fitz and the Tantrums, and the Palm Trees & Power Lines Tour in 2010, with OneRepublic, Bruno Mars, Kris Allen, Ry Cuming, VV Brown, Owl City, and actor Jason Segel, respectively. The band's third album titled Hands All Over was released on September 21, 2010. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. Despite the high placement on the Billboard 200, only 142,000 copies were sold, which was relatively weak compared to their previous album It Won't Be Soon Before Long, which debuted at number one with 429,000 copies. The album received mixed reviews from music critics, though many of them praised it for its production. The first single of the album "Misery" was released on June 22, 2010, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. In February 2011, Maroon 5 headlined the Super Bowl XLV pre-show with special guest Keith Urban, where the band performed their songs including "Misery" and "Never Gonna Leave This Bed." During a promotion by Coca-Cola in March 2011, the band participated in a special studio session during which, with the help of musician PJ Morton, they only 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.
On July 12, 2011, the band re-released the album Hands All Over, just to include their summer hit "Moves like Jagger" featuring Christina Aguilera. The song premiered live on The Voice on June 21 and reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 2011. Frontman Levine was also featured in the Gym Class Heroes' song "Stereo Hearts" from their album The Papercut Chronicles II, which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The band toured with Train for the 2011 Summer Tour from July to September 2011. On September 8, 2011, Jesse Carmichael stated the band was likely to begin recording its next album within the year. On October 1, 2011, 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 canceled his appearance for personal reasons. The band launched a Snapple flavor named "Tea Will Be Loved" in support of Feeding America in September 2011.
In November 2011, Maroon 5 performed "Moves Like Jagger" and "Stereo Hearts" with Travie McCoy on Saturday Night Live on November 5. On November 20, 2011, the band also performed the same songs along with Aguilera and Gym Class Heroes at the 2011 American Music Awards, where the band won their first AMA for Favorite Pop Band/Duo/Group. Later, the band played "Moves Like Jagger" at the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The next year, the band also won the 2012 People's Choice Award for Favorite Band, beating Linkin Park and Coldplay. On February 12, 2012, the group performed at the 54th Grammy Awards, alongside Foster the People and the Beach Boys in a medley of the Beach Boys songs to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Later, Maroon 5 contributed with a song written by Glen Hansard called "Come Away to the Water," featuring Rozzi Crane for The Hunger Games soundtrack album.
On March 9, 2012, Maroon 5 announced that Jesse Carmichael would take a break from performing with the group for an undetermined amount of time to focus more on his studies of "music and the healing arts" and was replaced by a new keyboardist and background vocalist PJ Morton, who had been touring with them since 2010 and who became a full-time band member, as Morton gained little success as an R&B artist.
As Maroon 5 continued to work on their fourth studio album Overexposed, which was released on June 26, 2012, Levine stated that Overexposed is their "most diverse and poppiest album yet." On April 16, Maroon 5 premiered the first single from the album "Payphone," featuring Wiz Khalifa, on the reality competition show The Voice, in which Levine is one of the coaches. "Payphone" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, eventually peaking at number two. The album's second single "One More Night" was released on June 19, 2012. The song reached number one on the Hot 100, blocking Psy's monster hit "Gangnam Style" from the top spot on the chart for nine consecutive weeks and tied with Carly Rae Jepsen's hit single "Call Me Maybe" for most weeks in the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2012.
At the start of their Overexposed Tour in South America, Maroon 5 introduced the newest addition in the band to the audience: their old and close friend Sam Farrar on guitars, occasionally on the bass guitar, percussion, additional keyboards, backing vocals, and providing samples and other special effects (using the MPC). Farrar co-wrote and co-produced a few of the band's songs on almost all of their studio albums and also remixed their song "Woman" on Call and Response: The Remix Album, released in 2008 (from the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack). On August 31, 2012 – during a show in Argentina – Farrar filled in for Mickey Madden on the bass guitar for the first time – he subsequently filled in for Madden on the next few shows of the tour. In July 2012, Maroon 5 began to work on the upcoming fifth studio album, after the commercial success of Overexposed and on October 10, 2012, Jesse Carmichael confirmed that he would be returning to the band after they complete their Overexposed Tour and will rejoin in time to record their fifth studio album.
In April 2013, James Valentine said the band was in the studio recording songs for the fifth 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." The band announced it would headline the 2013 Honda Civic Tour, with special guest Kelly Clarkson. The tour began on August 1 and concluded on October 6, 2013, comprising 33 dates.
In February 2014, Maroon 5 appeared to perform "All My Loving" and "Ticket to Ride" on the CBS show The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' arrival in the United States in 1964. On April 15, 2014, Jesse Carmichael confirmed that his hiatus from the band was complete and he reunited with the band in time to record for the album. With Carmichael's return along with PJ Morton, the band's lineup grew to six members.
In May 2014, Maroon 5 transferred from A&M Octone Records when they signed with Interscope Records (in partnership with Adam Levine's label 222 Records) and announced their fifth studio album V (pronounced: "five"), which was released on September 2, 2014. The album was also released on a limited-edition ZinePak. The album's first single "Maps" was released on June 16, 2014, and peaked at number 6 on the Hot 100 chart. On August 10, the band headlined the Hyundai Card City Break, a rock festival in South Korea. At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 24, 2014, Maroon 5 performed for the first time with "Maps" and "One More Night." The second single, "Animals," was released on August 25 and peaked at number 3 on the Hot 100 chart. It was featured in the 2015 Kia Soul EV commercial.
The album reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart on September 10, 2014. V received mixed reviews from critics. Brad Wete, writing for Billboard, said: "Levine's hummingbird vocals and passionate delivery are as earnest as they were on their 2002 debut Songs About Jane." On September 11, 2014, Maroon 5 performed during the 2014 iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse in London, England. Later, the band performed at the Grammy Awards' Christmas special, titled A Very Grammy Christmas on December 5, 2014, and at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour 2014 on December 12, 2014.
"Sugar" was released as the third single from the album on January 13, 2015. A music video was released on January 14, 2015, where the band traveled around Los Angeles and performed at random weddings. The single reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Like "Animals," the single was featured in commercials for two 2015 vehicles, namely the Nissan GT-R and the Toyota Corolla Altis. On February 22, 2015, Maroon 5 performed "Lost Stars" at the 87th Academy Awards. The song appeared on the soundtrack of the 2013 film Begin Again (which also stars Levine) and the deluxe edition of the band's album V.
Maroon 5 headlined a worldwide tour titled Maroon V Tour, in support of the album. Throughout the tour, artists Magic!, Rozzi Crane, Matt McAndrew, Tove Lo, R. City, and Phases served as the tour's opening acts. On May 11, 2015, the band announced that they would release their single "This Summer" on May 15, and it also appeared on the re-released deluxe edition of the fifth album. Four days later, Maroon 5 performed the song on the eighth season finale of The Voice. The band released their first greatest hits album Singles on September 25, 2015, through 222 and Interscope. It contains 12 singles taken from the first five albums. In 2016, the band also released The Studio Albums, an album collection box set featuring all five albums available on September 30, 2016. The same year, Sam Farrar, who had been touring and collaborating with Maroon 5, appeared in the band's promotional photo, where he became a new official member.
In January 2017, Adam Levine revealed that the band was working on their sixth studio album. According to Levine, the album would be R&B-influenced. At the 2017 Teen Choice Awards on August 13, where the band received the Decade Award, Levine announced that the album would be released in November. In October 2017, Maroon 5 revealed their sixth studio album Red Pill Blues, the name inspired by the 1999 science fiction film The Matrix. The album was released on November 3, 2017, and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200.
This album includes four singles: "Don't Wanna Know," "Cold," "What Lovers Do," and "Wait." The re-release of the album included a remix version of "Girls Like You" featuring Cardi B, which was released in May 2018 and served as the fifth and final single. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, spending seven weeks, which became their fourth number one on the chart. It spent 33 weeks in the top 10, tying with Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives at the time.
To support the album, Maroon 5 embarked on the Red Pill Blues Tour, which began on May 30, 2018, and concluded on December 31, 2019, along with special guests Julia Michaels, Cxloe, and Sigrid. In June 2018, the band collaborated with Hyundai to record a cover version of Bob Marley and the W ailers' "Three Little Birds," which was released as a promotional single on Apple Music and featured in advertisements for Hyundai vehicles during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In August 2018, the group made a guest appearance in the first episode of the YouTube Premium television web series Sugar.
On February 3, 2019, Maroon 5 headlined the Super Bowl LIII halftime show in Atlanta, Georgia, alongside American rappers Big Boi and Travis Scott. The band's decision to perform was controversial, as many artists declined to participate in support of Colin Kaepernick's protests against police brutality. The performance received mixed reviews from audiences and critics.
On September 20, 2019, Maroon 5 released the song "Memories," which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The following month, guitarist James Valentine revealed that the band was working on a new album. In June 2020, it was announced that David Dobkin was directing a documentary film about the band, although no release date was provided.
On June 27, 2020, bassist Mickey Madden was arrested in Los Angeles due to an allegation of domestic violence. Madden took a leave of absence from Maroon 5 after his arrest, and although the Los Angeles District Attorney declined prosecution, he was replaced by Sam Farrar. In July 2020, Maroon 5 announced the single "Nobody's Love," which was released on July 24. On December 16, 2020, Levine revealed that their seventh studio album was set for release in 2021. They released their next single, "Beautiful Mistakes," featuring American rapper Megan Thee Stallion, on March 3, 2021. On April 29, 2021, the band announced their seventh studio album, Jordi, would be released on June 11, 2021. The album included singles "Memories," "Nobody's Love," and "Beautiful Mistakes," and received mixed reviews from critics.
In September 2021, Maroon 5 headlined a television tribute special titled Shine a Light: A Tribute to the Families of 9/11, aired on CNN to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. In May 2022, Maroon 5 conducted a concert at the pyramids of Giza in Cairo, where PJ Morton stated that the band's performance in Egypt was better than their 2019 Super Bowl performance.
In January 2023, it was announced that the band would perform at the first edition of The Town Festival in Brazil on September 7, 2023. The band also headlined their first Las Vegas residency titled Maroon 5: The Las Vegas Residency at Dolby Live at the Park MGM, which began in March 2023 and is set to end in October 2024. On May 19, 2023, the band released a new single titled "Middle Ground," and on October 14, 2023, Levine teased that new music is slated to release in 2024.
Maroon 5 has established itself as a dominant force in the music industry, blending various genres and evolving their sound over the years. With a dedicated fan base and a string of successful albums and singles, they continue to influence the pop rock landscape while navigating the challenges and controversies that come with fame. Their ongoing projects and performances, including their Las Vegas residency, showcase their commitment to delivering memorable music experiences.