Jewish rocker Adam Schlesinger dies
Adam Schlesinger, known as one of the lead songwriters of the pop rock band Fountains of Wayne and the musical television series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, died Wednesday morning at 52 from coronavirus complications, Variety reported.
Schlesinger, who grew up in a secular Jewish home, had been in an unnamed hospital in upstate New York for more than a week.
Fountains of Wayne’s most famous song was “Stacy’s Mom,” for which Schlesinger and co-songwriter Chris Collingwood were nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2003. He won a Grammy in 2010 for the TV special A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!
In addition, Schlesinger garnered a host of Oscar, Tony and Emmy nominations, including an Oscar nod in 1997 for writing an original song in the Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do; two Tony nominations for the musical Cry-Baby in 2008; and Emmy nominations for songs on Sesame Street.
In recent years, he worked on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the very Jewish musical show that aired for four seasons on the CW. He co-wrote the majority of the show’s music and won an Emmy for the song “Antidepressants Are So Not a Big Deal,” alongside the show’s creator and star, Rachel Bloom, and Jack Dolgen.
He was most recently at work adapting Sarah Silverman’s memoir, The Bedwetter, into a musical. It was set to begin performances off-Broadway on April 25, but that has been delayed due to the pandemic. Schlesinger was also at work adapting The Nanny for Broadway, with Bloom.
Earlier Wednesday, Bloom had mentioned Schlesinger in posting on Instagram about the birth of her first child.
“Having a baby in the NICU during a pandemic while a dear friend was in the hospital 3,000 miles away made this by far the most emotionally intense week of mine and [my husband] Gregor’s lives,” she wrote.
Schlesinger is survived by his ex-wife Katherine Michel, a graphic designer, and their two daughters. (JTA)