Long before Maroon 5 reached the pinnacle of the Billboard charts with the platinum-certified Songs About Jane, most of its future members had already performed together under the name Kara's Flowers. The Los Angeles-based outfit formed in September 1995 and swiftly became a fixture on the local scene, drawing steady crowds of dedicated supporters while its players were still enrolled in high school. Adam Levine on vocals and guitar, Jesse Carmichael on guitar, Mickey Madden on bass, and Ryan Dusick on drums had not yet encountered the neo-soul approach that later propelled Maroon 5, yet their melodic pop songs impressed Reprise Records enough for the label to sign the group and pair it with producer Rob Cavallo, whose credits already included Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls, and Michelle Branch. The resulting debut album, The Fourth World, appeared in summer 1997 and received only a tepid reception, after which Reprise promptly dropped the band. By then the musicians had finished high school, so Levine and Carmichael moved east to attend the State University of New York, where they immersed themselves in soul, gospel, and R&B. Carmichael shifted his focus to keyboards while Levine refined his vocal style to echo Stevie Wonder. Once back in Los Angeles, the pair rejoined their former bandmates, welcomed James Valentine as second guitarist, and adopted the name Maroon 5, an act that would rank among the most successful of the 2000s.
