Adam Levine

Adam Noah Levine (born March 18, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, entrepreneur and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist and front man of pop rock band Maroon 5. During his late teenage years, Levine co-founded indie pop band Kara's Flowers and was its lead vocalist and guitarist. However, after the commercial failure of their only album, The Fourth World, the band split up.  Later, he reformed the band and a fifth member was added to form Maroon 5. The band has had considerable mainstream success, with all four of their studio albums reaching platinum status in the US. He has received three Grammy Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards and an award each at the MTV Video Music Awards and the World Music Awards, all with the band. Since 2011, Levine has served as a coach on NBC's reality talent show The Voice. The winner of the first season, Javier Colon, was on his team. In 2012, he made his acting debut as a recurring character in the horror television show American Horror Story: Asylum for the second season of the series. He was also cast in the upcoming film Can a Song Save Your Life? Levine is also an entrepreneur. In 2013, he launched his own eponymous fragrance line. That same year, he collaborated with Kmart and ShopYourWay.com to develop and design apparel and accessories collections. He also owns a record label, named "222 Records". Further, he was also signed as the spokesperson for acne treatment Proactiv. In 2013,The Hollywood Reporter reported that "sources familiar with his many business dealings" estimated that he would earn more than $35 million that year, with NBC paying him $10–12 million for each season of the The Voice. --- Levine was born in Los Angeles to Fred Levine, the founder of retail chain M. Fredric, and Patsy (née Noah) Levine, an admissions-counselor. Journalist and author Timothy Noah is his uncle. He has a younger brother, Michael, and a half-brother, Sam. Levine's parents divorced when he was seven. Growing up, he spent weekdays with his mother and weekends with his father. He underwent therapy for his parents' divorce, but called it a "waste of time" explaining: "[my parents] couldn't accept the fact that I might have been OK with it. I cried my eyes out and kicked and screamed and said, 'Why?' and all the things you do when you find out. A few days later I was fine but I still had to go to therapy." He attended Brentwood School, where he met Jesse Carmichael and Mickey Madden, his future bandmates. He also attended French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts Camp in Hancock, New York. Levine had tried drugs in his adolescence and, in an interview with Q magazine, said, "I've done drugs. I smoked a lot of pot when I was younger. There is a place in this world for a little weed every once in a while. I've written songs after smoking a joint and it was good." However, he emphasized that "more often than not it's absolute garbage. Cocaine just shouldn't be. It's brought no good into the world I'm not saying, you should do drugs." Levine has Jewish heritage on both sides of his family (his father and maternal grandfather were Jewish) and considers himself Jewish, though, according to The Jewish Chronicle, who interviewed him, he "has rejected formal religious practice for a more generalized, spiritual way of life". He chose not to have a Bar Mitzvah as a child, explaining: "I felt as though a lot of kids were trying to cash in. They were trying to make a bunch of money, and that's fine. I just don't think it's the most respectful way to deal with God and beliefs and years and years and years of cultural heritage." --- Levine resides in the Hollywood Hills with his close friend Gene Hong, a Korean American writer, actor and producer. His house featured on the Architectural Digest in 2012. In September 2010, Levine said on the radio program The Howard Stern Show he had been dating Russian Sports Illustrated swimsuit and Victoria's Secret model Anne Vyalitsyna seriously for about eight months. The couple met when Maroon 5 performed at the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue release party in Las Vegas. In April 2012, Levine and Vyalitsyna announced that they had split. In October 2012, it was reported that Levine was dating Namibian Victoria's Secret model Behati Prinsloo, after they made their first outing together as a couple at the GQ Gentlemen's Ball in New York.