With a few weeks until we mark what would have been Adam Schlesinger’s 54th birthday, Ivy have shared a beautifully thoughtful video tribute to their late bandmate, who passed away due to COVID-19 related complications in April 2020.
Although many are most familiar with Schlesinger for his work with Fountains of Wayne and his acclaimed film and television music (most notably the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominated title track for the soundtrack of the 1996 film That Thing You Do!), his most loyal fans also closely identify him with the New York City-based band Ivy, which he founded with Andy Chase and Dominque Durand in 1994. The critically lauded trio recorded six studio albums together, including their debut LP Realistic (1995), Apartment Life (1997), Long Distance (2000), Guestroom (2002), In The Clear (2005), and All Hours (2011).
The twenty-six-minute video compiles rare, behind-the-scenes interview and studio footage, as well as exclusive photos of the band and candid commentary from Chase and Durand. “We knew Adam Schlesinger for 30 years, and felt we should finally create an official Ivy statement about who he was to us,” the couple explains in an official statement. “We wanted to show a more intimate, human side to Adam—the friend, the father, the bandmate, the whirlwind force that he was—so we made this short film using exclusive home movies and photos. Hopefully this will help add more weight and color to the extraordinary legacy that Adam left behind.”
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