Fountains of Wayne founder Adam Schlesinger dies from coronavirus complications at 52

Suzy Byrne
·Reporter
Updated ·5 min read

Adam Schlesinger, the co-founder and songwriter the alternative-rock band Fountains of Wayne, has died from complications of COVID-19. He was 52.

The musician was hospitalized more than a week ago in upstate New York after falling ill, according to his lawyer Jaime Herman. Just one day ago, his family released a statement to Yahoo Entertainment saying they were “cautiously optimistic” for his recovery.

“Thank you for the outpouring of love for Adam and his family. Adam has been hospitalized with COVID-19. He’s on a ventilator and has been sedated to facilitate his recovery. He is receiving excellent care, his condition is improving and we are cautiously optimistic. His family appreciates all of the love and support.”

But Schlesinger’s prognosis worsened. Another of his attorneys, Josh Grier, told Variety, which first reported the singer’s death, that Schlesinger was “very sick and heavily sedated.”

While Schlesinger became famous for Fountains of Wayne hits like MTV staple “Stacy’s Mom,” which he co-wrote with Chris Collingwood, and recorded five albums with the New York-based band, he was also a prolific composer for TV and film and a sought-after music producer.

Schlesinger’s songwriting earned him three Emmy Awards and a Grammy — as well as Academy Award, Golden Globe and Tony nominations.

Schlesinger and Rachel Bloom collaborated on the music in her popular CW show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — for which he served as series composer. He won an Emmy, with Bloom and fellow lyricist Jack Dolgen, in September.

Prior to that, he won two other Emmys for original music he made for the Tony Awards in 2013 and 2012.

Schlesinger also wrote the music for Kathy Griffin’s talk show, and the comedian paid tribute to him upon hearing the tragic news, as did other collaborators like Jimmy Kimmel and Fran Drescher.

Schlesinger’s Grammy win was in 2009 for Best Comedy Album for A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!, which he helped compose for Stephen Colbert — though he also received two nominations in 2003 for his work with Fountains of Wayne.

Schlesinger also wrote the music for Tom Hanks’s directorial debut, 1996’s That Thing You Do!, for which the musician earned his Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for the title track. Hanks tweeted how “terribly sad” he was of the news and said his production company, Playtone, wouldn’t exist were it not for Schelsinger’s Beatlesque earworm:

(Hanks and wife Rita Wilson have recovered from COVID-19.)

Schlesinger was also nominated for two Tonys in 2008 for Cry-Baby the musical.

Along with Fountains of Wayne, Schlesinger’s other band projects included the ’90s dream-pop trio Ivy and the powerpop supergroup Tinted Windows featuring Hanson’s Taylor Hanson, the Smashing Pumpkins’s James Iha and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos. In addition to producing or co-producing all five Fountains of Wayne and five Ivy albums, Schlesinger was also an in-demand producer and songwriter, working with the Monkees, Dashboard Confessional, Robert Plant, They Might Be Giants, Fastball and many other artists.

For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along at https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC and WHO’s resource guides.

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