Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California. The group developed from Kara's Flowers, a band established in 1994 by high-school friends Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, and Ryan Dusick. After releasing the independent album ...We Like Digging? and the Reprise Records album The Fourth World in 1997, Kara's Flowers struggled to find a broad audience. The members subsequently attended college and reconsidered their musical direction.
The band returned in 2001 under the name Maroon 5, adding guitarist James Valentine. Their revised sound combined pop rock with elements of R&B, funk, and soul, giving greater emphasis to rhythmic grooves and polished songwriting. The group's first album, Songs About Jane (2002), was inspired in part by Levine's former relationship with Jane Herman. Initially a slow-building success, the album eventually became a major international hit through the singles "Harder to Breathe," "This Love," "She Will Be Loved, and "Sunday Morning." Its combination of sharp guitar work, emotionally direct lyrics, and Levine's distinctive vocal delivery established Maroon 5 as one of the leading pop-rock acts of the early 2000s. The band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005.
Personnel changes followed the success of the debut. Drummer Ryan Dusick left the group after suffering persistent wrist and shoulder injuries, and Matt Flynn became the band's drummer in 2006. Maroon 5's second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long (2007), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Its lead single, "Makes Me Wonder," became the band's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, marking a shift toward a more streamlined and commercially focused pop sound.
The group continued that transition on Hands All Over (2010). Although the album initially produced a more modest response, its 2011 reissue included "Moves Like Jagger," a collaboration with Christina Aguilera that became one of Maroon 5's biggest hits. Overexposed (2012) moved further into contemporary dance-pop and generated another major success with "One More Night," which topped the Hot 100 for nine weeks. During this period, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael took a temporary leave and was replaced in touring activities by PJ Morton, who later became an official member.
Carmichael returned for V (2014), an album that debuted at number one and included the international hit "Sugar." Longtime collaborator Sam Farrar joined the official lineup in 2016, contributing bass, keyboards, guitar, percussion, and programming. The album Red Pill Blues (2017) continued the band's reliance on electronic production and guest collaborations, most notably on "Girls Like You" featuring Cardi B. The song became another Hot 100 number-one and was supported by a widely viewed video celebrating prominent women from music, entertainment, sports, and public life.
Maroon 5 performed at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show in 2019. In 2020, bassist Mickey Madden departed the band, and Farrar took over bass duties. The group subsequently released Jordi (2021), named in memory of the band's former manager Jordan Feldstein, followed by the eighth studio album Love Is Like in 2025. The latter included collaborations with LISA, Lil Wayne, and Sexyy Red. With Levine, Carmichael, Valentine, Flynn, Morton, and Farrar forming its established modern lineup, Maroon 5 remains known for adapting a guitar-based pop-rock foundation to changing mainstream production styles.