Maroon 5

Songs About Jane [1st Album]

The band recorded Songs About Jane at Rumbo Recorders in Los Angeles with record producer Matt Wallace, who had also produced for Train, Blues Traveler, Kyle Riabko, and Third Eye Blind. Most of the material on Maroon 5's debut album was directly inspired by Levine's tumultuous relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Jane; "We were breaking up as the band entered the studio," he explains. "After compiling a song list, we decided to name the album Songs About Jane because it felt like the most honest statement we could make with the title."

The first single "Harder to Breathe" slowly started to pick up airplay which helped spur sales of the album. By March 2004, the album had reached the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 and "Harder to Breathe" had made the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts. The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 in August 2004, 26 months after its release; this was the longest period between an album's release and its initial Top 10 appearance since SoundScan results were included in the Billboard 200 in 1991.

Songs About Jane eventually reached #2 on the Australian albums charts while "Harder to Breathe" made the Top 20 singles charts in the U.S. and UK, and Top 40 in Australia and New Zealand. The album also eventually climbed to #1 in the UK and #2 in Australia. The second single, "This Love", reached #5 in the U.S., #3 in the UK, and #8 in Australian The third single, "She Will Be Loved", reached the Top 5 in both the U.S. and the UK, and went to #1 in Australia.The fourth single, "Sunday Morning", reached the Top 40 in the U.S., UK, and Australia.

It Won't Be Soon Before Long [2nd Album]

Adam Levine, Maroon 5On May 22, 2007, Maroon 5's second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, was released worldwide by A&M/Octone Records.According to Levine, the follow-up to Songs About Jane is "sexier and stronger", gaining inspiration from iconic 80s artists such as Prince, Shabba Ranks, Michael Jackson and Talking Heads.Before its release, "Makes Me Wonder" was the #1 selling single and video on iTunes.It was also the #1 selling album, with more than 50,000 digital pre-sales.After its release, the album broke iTunes sales records its week of release, selling over 101,000 albums.

The first single, "Makes Me Wonder", was released to radio March 27, 2007. The making of the music video was previewed on MTV's Total Request Live, and premiered on the show March 29. The song debuted at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100, the lowest debuting single of the group's five chart entries. In the first week of May, the single skyrocketed from a lowly position of 64 to #1, the biggest jump in Billboard history."Makes Me Wonder" has also achieved #1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100, and Hot Dance Club Play charts.

To support the album, the band performed on a "six-date club tour" in which they visited small venues in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Miami, and New York City in early June 2007. They followed with a concert that streamed live via MSN Music in mid-June. Then, on July 9, the band announced plans for their 2007 It Won't Be Soon Before Long world tour set to begin September 29 in Detroit and conclude November 10 in Las Vegas. The Hives, as the tour's special guest, will be performing on all of the dates while Sara Bareilles, Kevin Michael, and Phantom Planet will each be performing in a portion of the tour. On July 10, they opened for The Police, in Miami,and followed with an acoustic performance at the Miami club, Studio A, the next day.

[Source: Wikipedia]