Adam Duritz Caricature

Adam Duritz Caricature, shown here, age 32 in late 1996 following the release of “Recovering The Satellites” album.

Duritz is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and film producer. He is best known as the front man for the rock band Counting Crows, of which he is a founding member and principal composer.
The band name was taken from “One for Sorrow”, a British divination nursery rhyme about the superstitious counting of magpies (which are members of the crow family).

Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold over 20 million records, released four albums that have been certified gold or platinum, and been nominated for two Grammy Awards and an Academy Award.

Before gaining fame, Duritz sang (and later wrote songs) for a few San Francisco Bay Area bands. In 1990, Duritz joined with David Bryson in forming the band The Himalayans. In The Himalayans, Duritz’s songwriting talents were beginning to gain recognition from the other musicians and the original version of the song “Round Here” was written at that time.
A year later, while The Himalayans recorded a demo tape for a major record label, Duritz and Bryson independently submitted another demo tape of just the two of them singing stripped-down musical selections, and calling themselves Counting Crows.

After both tapes were listened to, Duritz and Bryson’s tape was selected, and they were asked to record the song for what would be their debut album. August and Everything After (1993) was the result, and “Round Here” appeared on the album.

“August and Everything After” charted within the top 5 of the Billboard 200, and singles “Mr. Jones” (1993) and “A Long December” (1996) were number-one hits in Canada. The album has been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Six of the band’s albums have charted on the Billboard 200.

Top Counting Crows hits: “Mr. Jones”, “Round Here”, “Accidentally In Love”, “Holiday In Spain”, “A Long December”, “Goodnight Elisabeth”, “Omaha”, “Anna Begins”, “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Hanginaround”.

In 2008, Duritz revealed he has grappled with a dissociative mental-health disorder, which can, at times, make his world seem unreal. He perceives everyday scenes like a projection on a movie screen.