ABC/Randy HolmesQuick, how many members does Maroon 5 have? If you said seven, well, congratulations, because most people just know one: Adam Levine. And while some bands might be upset that one member is getting all the attention, guitarist James Valentine says the rest of the guys are “much happier” staying out of the spotlight.
“For a lot of other bands, that would have been an issue. But for us, we’re all good with that. And it’s raised the profile of the band, too,” James tells The Deseret News about Adam’s fame, which is largely the result of his side job on The Voice.
In fact, James believes that the rest of Maroon 5’s disinterest in being famous is what’s kept them going for more than 15 years.
“I think it’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to stay together,” he explains. “I mean, you can watch any episode of VH1’s Behind the Music or any sort of music documentary, and you can see the story all over, where there’s two or more members of the band that want to be the front person, and there’s usually a struggle for power for that spotlight.”
But James says he and the rest of the band — Jesse Carmichael, Sam Farrar, Matt Flynn, PJ Morton and Mickey Madden — don’t really care about that kind of power struggle.
“I think for us, we kind of all knew the dynamic,” James explains. “Adam loves the spotlight, he loves being out in front. And the rest of us are totally, totally fine with that. We’re much happier being in the supporting roles.”
Maroon 5 is currently on a fall tour with Julia Michaels. They’ll tour through mid-October and then wrap up the year with two December shows at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
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