Adam Duritz

Adam Duritz
Duritz on the levee in Saint Louis with Counting Crows
Background information
Birth name	Adam Fredric Duritz
Born	(1964-08-01) 1 August 1964 Baltimore, Maryland, United States[1]
Genres	Folk Rock, Alternative rock, pop rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, Songwriter, Record producer, Film producer
Instruments	Vocals, Piano, Guitar, Harmonica
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Capitol Records
Associated acts	Mod-L Society, The Himalayans, Sordid Humor, Counting Crows
Website	CountingCrows.com

Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and film producer. He is best known for his role as frontman and vocalist for the rock band Counting Crows, in which he is a founding member and principal composer of their catalogue of songs.

Duritz has recorded solo material of his own, and has collaborated with other musical acts. He has branched out as the owner of at least two record labels, acting as his own artists and repertoire (A&R) man. His work scoring music for film has been recognized by the music industry, notably with an award for co-writing the song "Accidentally in Love" for the movie Shrek 2 from BMI.

Duritz's lyrics have been described as "morose" and "tortured"^[2] and as "wordy introspection"^[3] and his vocals "expressive".^[2]

Career

Music career

Before gaining fame, Duritz sang (and later wrote songs) for a few San Francisco Bay Area bands. These included Mod-L Society and Sordid Humor, a college rock band. While Duritz was not a member, in the early 1990s, two other musicians whom Duritz had not yet met were introduced while working with the band. Duritz had been tapped to provide vocals on one track, and future bandmate David Immerglück, (nicknamed "Immy") as a session musician on bass guitar. Producing the album was David Bryson, both of whom became good friends. In 1990, Duritz joined with Bryson, and followed his lead in forming the band, The Himalayans. In the Himalayans, his songwriting talents were beginning to gain recognition from the other musicians and a song, albeit in its infancy, "Round Here" was written at that time. A year later, while The Himalayans recorded a demo tape for a major record label, Duritz and Bryson independently submitted another demo tape of just the two of them singing stripped-down musical selections, and called themselves Counting Crows. After listening to both tapes, Duritz and Bryson's tape was selected; although they were asked to record the song on their debut album as it was. She Likes the Weather was the result, containing "Round Here".^[4] After they performed as the music guest on Saturday Night Live (SNL), their single "Mr. Jones" jumped 40 spots in the charts.

He has collaborated with The Wallflowers (led by Jakob Dylan) on the album Bringing Down the Horse on the track "6th Avenue Hearthache"; with Ryan Adams on Gold and the song "Butterfly in Reverse" from Hard Candy; with Peter Stuart on Propeller and 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" and "Talk To Me While I'm Listening", 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. Along with bandmates Vickrey, Bryson, and Immerglück, Duritz co-wrote the song "Accidentally in Love" for the soundtrack of the movie, Shrek 2, winning them each an award from BMI.^[7]

Duritz was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[8]

Record labels

In 1997, Adam Duritz co-founded E Pluribus Unum, an independent label in which he retained ownership. Before the label was purchased by Interscope Records in 2000, Duritz had signed Joe 90, Gigolo Aunts, and Neilson Hubbard—all of whom he had taken on the road to open for Counting Crows.

In November 2006, Duritz began production on the Chicago pop punk band Blacktop Mourning's debut record, under the name "The Devil and Bunny Show," alongside an album by Counting Crows guitarist David Immerglück. On January 15, 2007, Duritz announced that he was launching the boutique record label Tyrannosaurus Records, where he would be sole owner. His debut artists on the label included Notar and Blacktop Mourning. The label also re-released the one album by Duritz's former band, The Himalayans. As of 2015, the label was defunct.^[9]

Film career

In addition to his musical pursuits, Duritz was executive producer for the films The Locusts^[10] and Burn.^[11] He appeared in the 2007 mockumentary film Farce of the Penguins.^[12] Adam teamed with the Broken Lizard comedy troupe in 2009 as Executive Producer for the film Freeloaders (2011).^[13] The film revolves 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."^[14] Written by Dan Rosen and Dave Gibbs, the film stars Clifton Collins Jr., Olivia Munn, Jane Seymour and Dave Foley as well as a multitude of stars making brief cameos throughout. The film was to be in limited theater release April 2012 with DVD release to follow.^[13]

Relationship with fans

Adam maintains and frequently updates an account on Twitter.^[15] 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.^[16] In addition, Duritz frequently guest blogs for websites, including American Songwriter.^[17]

Personal life

Duritz suffers from insomnia and, as he describes it, a "dissociative disorder, which makes the world seem like it's not real",^[18] a condition that has contributed to the length of time between his albums and that has been an inspiration for many of his lyrics.

Duritz was reported to be unmarried, as of August 2014.^[19]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Counting Crows.

• Adam Duritz at the Internet Movie Database
• Adam Duritz discography at MusicBrainz