Adam Duritz

Adam Duritz is an American singer and songwriter best known as the frontman, founding member and principal songwriter of rock band Counting Crows. Duritz was born in Baltimore and moved to California with his family as a child. He graduated from Head-Royce School in Oakland and attended the University of California, Davis before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied English but left before earning his degree.

Duritz began writing songs in high school and later performed with Bay Area bands, including the Himalayans and Sordid Humor. He and guitarist David Bryson formed Counting Crows in 1991. The band broke through with its 1993 debut album, August and Everything After, which featured the hit singles “Mr. Jones,” “Round Here” and “Rain King.” Their follow-up, Recovering the Satellites, debuted at No. 1 in 1996.

Duritz and Counting Crows went on to release albums including This Desert Life (1999), Hard Candy (2002), Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (2008), Somewhere Under Wonderland (2014) and Butter Miracle, Suite One (2021). The band won the 1994 MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in a Video and the 1995 American Music Award for Favorite Alternative Artist. Duritz has received three Grammy nominations, including for “Round Here” and “Accidentally in Love,” which also earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations after appearing in Shrek 2 (2002).

Duritz’s public dating history has included Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Mary-Louise Parker and Emmy Rossum.