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The heartbreaking toll from COVID-19 on the music industry continues to grow. On Monday, the world lost country singer Joe Diffie at the age of 61 after a battle against coronavirus. Today, Fountains of Wayne co-founder Adam Schlesinger succumbed to the disease at the age of 51 after being hospitalized earlier this week, according to Rolling Stone.
Schlesinger helped form Fountains of Wayne in 1996, which was named after a lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey. Schlesinger helped pen early Aughts alt-rock anthems like “Stacy’s Mom”, released in 2003.
In a 2005 interview with the New York Times, Schlesinger talked about how the song tapped the pulse of an era dominated by raunchy, hard-R comedies like Wedding Crashers and Old School.
Mr. Schlesinger and Mr. Collingwood formed Fountains of Wayne in 1996, and the band’s 2003 “Welcome Interstate Managers” earned them two Grammy nominations. Their song “Stacy’s Mom,” a tongue-in-cheek anthem to oddball teenage lust, rocketed the album onto the charts. “I think we tapped into a weird moment in the culture,” Mr. Schlesinger said.
Most recently, Schlesinger served as the executive music producer for the musical-comedy TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, writing a number of the show’s songs.
Schlesinger was also working with Sarah Silverman on an off Broadway version of her book, “The Bedwetter,” which was delayed by the pandemic.
If you were a teenager from 2002 – 2006, it’s impossible to overstate how significant “Stacy’s Mom” was. The song was everywhere, for years and years.
Pour one out tonight and turn it up with a heavy heart.
This sucks so much.