Fountains of Wayne and Sharon Van Etten Tribute Adam Schlesinger With ‘Hackensack’ Performance

Fountains of Wayne reunited on Wednesday to pay heartfelt tribute to their late founding member, Adam Schlesinger, who died of complications from coronavirus earlier this month.

The group came together virtually during the Jersey 4 Jersey Benefit Concert, alongside rocker Sharon Van Etten, playing from their respective homes amid ongoing social distancing measures. The special also featured performances from Jersey natives like Jon Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and more.

Fountains of Wayne were introduced by late night host Stephen Colbert, who currently lives in Schlesinger’s hometown of Montclair, New Jersey. Colbert paid emotional tribute to “a great New Jersey band” and the late songwriter, before the band performed “Hackensack,” a Garden State-themed ballad off their 2003 album, Welcome Interstate Managers.

“I was lucky enough to wok with one of their founding members, longtime Montclair resident Adam Schlesinger, who tragically passed away from the coronavirus,” Colbert said. The pair worked together on Colbert’s 2008 holiday special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!, for which Schlesinger won a GRAMMY. “Tonight the band is reuniting for Adam, and for New Jersey. Ladies and gentleman, Fountains of Wayne.”

Chris Collingwood, who formed the foundation for Fountains of Wayne with Schlesinger when the two met as freshmen at Williams College, kicked off their performance, saying, “This is for Adam, his parents, his children and New Jersey.”

Schlesinger died on April 1 of complications from the coronavirus. He was 52. 

In addition to his time with Fountains of Wayne — who hit No. 21 on the Billboard charts in 2003 with their single, “Stacy’s Mom” — Schlesinger also wrote the Academy Award-nominated title track of 1996’s That Thing You Do!and won three Emmys for his work as a composer on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Sesame Street and the Tony Awards.

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