ADAM LEVINE’S BIG VOICE
Maroon 5 singer finds key to success
Adam Levine will always be able to thank Canada for one thing: His first legal night out drinking.
“Our first time playing Canada, we were at a place called the Opera House in Toronto,” the Maroon 5 frontman says from Montreal. “We were opening for Goldfinger and we were 19, and it was so cool because the drinking age there is 19. It was the first place where we could drink legally and it was a complete disaster. We were a total mess.
“So thank you, Canada, for your leniency towards drinking.”
Levine, 37, is currently starring on Season 12 of NBC’s The Voice, with fellow coaches Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Alicia Keys.
“I was able to make all these new friends I never would’ve made in a million years,” Levine told People in a recent interview. “We were brought together by this crazy show. I feel so lucky to have at least at the end of the day, beyond the show itself, to have made really good friends.”
Meanwhile, Maroon 5 are in the final weeks of their V world tour. The band has also just released their latest single, Cold, which features rapper Future.
“It ended up being more amazing than I thought it was going to be,” Levine says of the unlikely collaboration.
On the heels of Cold, Maroon 5 is getting set to release its stilluntitled sixth LP — their first in three years.
After failing to achieve mainstream success their first time out as Kara’s Flowers in the ’90s, the band — including rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine, bassist Mickey Madden, drummer Matt Flynn and keyboardist PJ Morton — rebranded themselves as Maroon 5 and international stardom followed. It’s something of a pop fairy tale.
“I think the key to our success was adaptability,” Levine says. “When you’re in a band, you can become consumed with what people think, ‘What are our fans going to think?’ As much as I adore our fans, I don’t think it’s our responsibility to make music just for our fans. A lot of bands are way too scared to think that way; I wish they weren’t.”
So where does he see Maroon 5 in 10 years?
“I probably have to say not together anymore, since that is likely what I said 10 years ago,” he chuckles. “As long as I keep saying that, we’ll be OK.”