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Adam Levine (vocals/guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards), Mickey Madden (bass), and Ryan Dusick (drums) spent the latter half of the '90s playing in the modern rock foursome Kara's Flowers. The Fourth World was their proper debut for Reprise, a favorite in the college market, but a change of direction loomed ahead. They left Reprise in 1999 and renamed themselves Maroon 5 with the addition of guitarist James Valentine. Levine and his junior-high pals spent the next years tweaking their style and playing various music showcases in and around New York City and Los Angeles. The independent label Octone Records caught one those shows and offered Maroon 5 a deal. Songs About Jane emerged from those sessions, finally appearing in June 2002, but it wasn't until the next summer that things started happening for Maroon 5. "Harder to Breathe" and "This Love" were top 10 on singles and by January 2004, Songs About Jane was certified platinum, reaching number 6 on the Billboard 200. A third single, "She Will Be Loved," appeared later that August, and the buzz continued to swirl around Maroon 5. (They somewhat ironically won the Best New Artist Grammy in 2005.) As the success of Songs for Jane was slow to develop (or rather, it was the rare 21st century album given time to develop), Maroon 5 had to issue some stopgap live recordings while they supported Jane and tried to think about new material. 1.22.03.Acoustic appeared in 2004, and Live at the Santa Barbara Bowl in September 2005. The band also supported the Rolling Stones for a string of dates in August and September 2005. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
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