"Adam Levine" The New Queen Of Pop
"I saw my first stripper here." Adam Levine, the frontman for Maroon 5, stands in the kitchen area of Los Angeles' Conway Recording Studios, reminiscing with the guitarist James Valentine, his longtime bandmate. Crew members of one of TV's top-rated programs, The Voice, scurry to prepare for this afternoon's taping. The 33-year-old Levine, one of the four coach-judges on the show, has brought Team Adam's six finalists to Conway for a history lesson of sorts: A native Angeleno, Levine has been making records here since he was earning D's and F's in high school. "We made our first demo at Conway, when I was 17," he says, referring to Kara's Flowers, the one-and-done band that eventually morphed into Maroon 5. "I've been recording here ever since." There are perks for such loyalty: The parking spot closest to the studio is marked RESERVED FOR ADAM LEVINE. There are perks, too, for selling 17 million albums, winning three Grammys, and stealing hearts as The Voice's lady-bait breakout star: A gleaming ink-black 1958 Porsche 1600 Speedster convertible sits in said spot.
Levine does not dress like the owner of a luxe vintage roadster. He's wearing black shit-kickers, blue Dickies work pants, and a long-sleeved charcoal-gray henley tee. His hair is closely cropped. His toned arms are blanketed in tattoos. If you still believe in rock stars, Levine fits that bill as well as anyone these days. For traditionalists, there's the ink, the car, the motorcycle collection, the house in the Hollywood Hills, and, until recently, the Victoria's Secret supermodel girlfriend, Anne Vyalitsyna.
"The first time I went to Adam's house," says the country singer and fellow Voice coach Blake Shelton, "I told him, 'Man, you're exactly the rock star I wanted you to be.' There's a grand piano in his bedroom. From his pool outside, you look up the hill and there's the Hollywood sign. I mean, there were models hanging around. It was badass."
But Levine is no nostalgia-glazed revivalist: In addition to the reality-TV gig, there are the collaborations with the Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback, the on-the-payroll yoga instructor, even the obligatory celebrity fragrance. "Nothing wrong with making money," Levine says. "I'm always quoting the part in Jerry Maguire when Cuba Gooding talks about the 'kwan': 'love, respect, community, and the dollars, too.' I love that shit. Nobody has it all, but for me to even come close is amazing."
Levine carries his stardom lightly; he's well raised, neurotically polite, discreet about his boldface dating, and self-aware enough to know that exchanging I love you, mans with his new BFF Shelton from comically oversize swivel chairs is not exactly Hammer of the Gods material. "I never got down with conveying a larger-than-life vibe," he explains. When talk turns to the "yachts and coke" lifestyle of the eighties-excess pinups Duran Duran, Levine smiles sheepishly. "I guess I'm more a houses-and-weed guy," he says, and he may be exaggerating the weed part.
As a makeup artist blots Levine's forehead free of moisture ("Thank you." Blot. "Thank you"), a Voice producer signals for him and Valentine to head to the studio next door, where Team Adam awaits. A camera crew rolls tape. Levine adjusts the mic pack clipped to his jeans. "By the way," he says as he steps onto the pathway outside, "the stripper wasn’t mine” BY CRAIG MARKS,PHOTOGRAPHS BY NORMAN JEAN ROY
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