Adam Duritz

Adam Duritz
Adam Duritz performing with Counting Crows in 2007
Background information
Born	August 1, 1964 (1964-08-01) (age 44) Baltimore, Maryland
Genre(s)	Rock, Pop, Alternative
Occupation(s)	Musician, Singer-songwriter, Producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Piano, Guitar
Associated acts	Mod-L Society, The Himalayans, Sordid Humor, Counting Crows

Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American musician and record producer. He is the lead singer and founding member of the rock band Counting Crows. His lyrics have been described as "morose" and "tortured"^[1]and as "wordy introspection"^[2] and his vocals "expressive."^[1] He has also suffered from depression and "a dissociative disorder, which makes the world seem like it's not real,"^[3] which contribute to the duration between albums and the inspiration of many of his song lyrics.

History

Early history

Duritz was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of two doctors, and is of Russian Jewish descent - but is now "impersonating African Jamaican", he says. ^[4] Early on he moved to Boston, then El Paso, Texas, and finally to Berkeley, California. Duritz has lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Amsterdam and, most recently, New York City. As a student, he attended Head-Royce School, the Taft School, the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Berkeley , but dropped out before earning a degree.

Musical history

Before forming Counting Crows in 1991 with guitarist David Bryson, he was lead singer for San Francisco Bay Area bands, Mod-L Society, where he met future bandmate David Immergluck, or "Immy" as he is called, and The Himalayans. He was also involved in another San Francisco-based band, Sordid Humor.

He has collaborated with The Wallflowers (led by Bob Dylan's son Jakob Dylan) on the album Bringing Down the Horse on the track "Sixth Avenue Hearthache"; with Ryan Adams on Gold and the song "Butterfly in Reverse" from Hard Candy; with Peter Stuart on Propeller and Daisy (album)|Daisy; with Live on V^[5]; and with Dashboard Confessional on the track "So Long, So Long" from Dusk and Summer.^[6] He also collaborated with Nanci Griffith on "Going Back to Georgia", from Griffith's 1994 Album "Flyer".

Duritz also contributed the songs "Spin Around," "You Don't See Me," and "You're a Star" to the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack that were performed by the film's fictional title band, and "Accidentally in Love" on the Shrek soundtrack, which won him an award from BMI for co-writing (with bandmates Vickrey, Immergluck, and Bryson, the song, "Accidentally in Love."^[7]

Personal life

Duritz has dated actresses Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, who appeared in the music video for "A Long December", and Mary Louise Parker.

Relationship with fans

Since coming to fame with Counting Crows, Duritz has maintained an unusually open relationship with his fans. This has taken various forms including a diary on AOL ^[8], and later a blog on the band’s official website. He also reads and responds to posts on the band’s messageboard, and recently started a feature called AskCrowsAsk where fans can email questions for band members to answer. This relationship has not always been smooth; Duritz has clashed with some fans, chastising those involved in flame wars by quipping on his blog, "Some of you are [-expletive-] incredibly unpleasant people."^[9] Duritz is also very open and honest with his fans on his blog about his philosophies and views of the world, at times morbid.

Record labels

Duritz has made slow progress in the music industry as a record label owner. In 1997, Duritz co-founded E Pluribus Unum, an independent label. Before the label was purchased by Interscope Records in 2000, Duritz signed Joe 90, Gigolo Aunts, and Neilson Hubbard – all of whom he took on the road to open for Counting Crows. In November 2006, Adam Duritz began production on the Chicago pop punk band Blacktop Mourning's debut record under the name "The Devil and Bunny Show" alongside Counting Crows guitarist David Immerglück's current album. He later announced, on January 15, 2007, that he was launching boutique record label Tyrannosaurus Records. His debut artists include Notar and Blacktop Mourning. The label also re-released the sole album by Duritz's former band The Himalayans.

Appearances

Duritz and the Counting Crows were featured on The Howard Stern Show on March 27, 2008, in which they performed an alternative version of "Round Here". Stern had earlier asked the band members who appeared in the studio that day to perform an early tune, and said, "he'd had a lot of bands come in, and got real chills and tears in his eyes" and finished by saying it was one of the most moving performances he had ever heard.

Film

In addition to his musical pursuits, Duritz was executive producer for the films The Locusts (1997) and Burn (1998). He had a cameo in the 2007 mockumentary film Farce of the Penguins^[10]

• Freeloaders'. Adam is teaming with the Broken Lizard comedy troupe in an upcoming picture. The film will revolve around five guys and a girl who live in the lap of luxury in a rock star's mansion. But their sweet situation is threatened when the rock star decides to sell the home. The friends will do whatever it takes to maintain their rock and roll lifestyle, as hilarity and shenanigans ensue ^[11]

Notes

External links

• Adam Duritz at the Internet Movie Database
• Adam.CountingCrows.com - Personal website
• Adam Duritz discography at MusicBrainz
• Tyrannosaurus Records -Record label

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