Adam Schlesinger, Songwriter for Rock, Film and the Stage, Dies at 52

Adam Schlesinger
Adam Schlesinger

Adam Schlesinger, the singer, and songwriter in Fountains of Wayne and Ivy who had an award for writing songs and films has passed away on Wednesday, at the age of 52 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. After he was diagnosed with coronavirus, according to his family.

In Fountains of Wayne, which was begun in 1995, Mr. Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood idealized a novelistic type of hummable Pop-Rock in a style got from The Kinks and from the 1970s gatherings like Big Star and the Cars.

They picked northern New Jersey and wards outside Manhattan as topical domain, chronicling the lives of rural shopping center customers, Generation X bums and down-advertise spread groups in tunes like “Hackensack” and “Red Dragon Tattoo.”

Revered by pundits, Fountains of Wayne — in which Mr. Schlesinger played bass and Mr. Collingwood played guitar and sang lead vocals — turned into a religion most loved yet had humble record deals. Its most renowned minute came in 2003 with “Stacy’s Mom,” a winking curiosity track about a young kid captivated by a companion’s mom. With a shocking video highlighting the supermodel Rachel Hunter, the tune made it to No. 21 on Billboard’s Hot 100 graph.

Nearly from the beginning of his profession, Mr. Schlesinger discovered accomplishment in different mediums. He composed the Beatles-Esque signature tune to  “That Thing You Do!” a 1996 movie coordinated by Tom Hanks about a likewise ran 1960s musical crew; like the best Fountains of Wayne tunes, “That Thing You Do!” had an immediately appealing tune, a contorting harmony movement and a lot of wordplays.