Adam Levine biography

Synopsis

Early Years

Adam Noah Levine was born on March 18, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. He formed his first band, Kara's Flowers, while attending the private Brentwood School with friends and fellow students Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick. The band released its first album, The Fourth World, in 1997, as high school seniors. Kara's Flowers released one single, "Soap Disco," and appeared on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, before finding success elusive and breaking up.

Levine and Carmichael left Los Angeles for Long Island, New York, to attend Five Towns College, a music and performing arts school. Living in New York exposed the pair to an entirely different music scene, involving large doses of R&B and hip-hop, and Levine would later say that living in New York had a large impact on his musical point-of-view.

Maroon 5

Levine and Carmichael dropped out of Five Towns and returned to Los Angeles in 2000. There, they reunited with the other members of Kara's Flowers and added a new member, guitarist James Valentine (Carmichael moved to keyboards). The band then changed its name to Maroon 5 and released its debut album, Songs About Jane, in 2002. Two years later, after slowly climbing the charts, the album went platinum, and the song's music video turned Adam Levine into an instant sex symbol.

Maroon 5 earned their first Grammy Award (best new artist) in 2004. The band would go on to win Grammys for best pop performance in 2005 and 2007.

Songs About Jane was followed by It Won't Be Soon Before Long (2007) and Hands All Over (2010), the latter of which featured the smash hit "Moves Like Jagger," which peaked at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the Billboard chart. Levine has also found success along the way by appearing on other musicians' albums, working with such superstars as Kanye West, Alicia Keys and Natasha Bedingfield.

In 2012, Maroon 5 returned to the charts with its fourth studio album, Overexposed, featuring hits like "One More Night" and "Payphone" with Wiz Khalifa. Levine and his bandmates went on an international tour to promote the recording.

Beyond Music

Adam Levine began branching out into television in 2007, when he made a comedic appearance on Saturday Night Live. He also appeared on Comedy Central's A Night of Too Many Stars and had a cameo on Jimmy Kimmel Live. In 2011, Levine made the jump to a full-time TV gig as a judge/coach on the reality series The Voice, and in 2012, he landed a role on the series American Horror Story.