Adam Schlesinger, Songwriter For Rock And The Film, Dies At 52

New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Adam Schlesinger, one of the most prolific and decorated songwriters of his generation, died Wednesday from complications caused by COVID-19. He was 52. His death was confirmed by his lawyer, Josh Grier.
According to various reports, Schlesinger spent more than a week in a hospital in upstate New York and had been placed on a ventilator.

Named after a lawn-ornament store in Schlesinger's native northern New Jersey, Fountains of Wayne crashed the Top 40 in 2003 with "Stacy's Mom," a note-perfect New Wave pastiche narrated by a hormone-sozzled high-school boy infatuated with his classmate's mother.
"Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn? / Your mom came out with just a towel on," Schlesinger's bandmate Chris Collingwood sings over a chugging guitar groove clearly inspired by the Cars, "I could tell she liked me from the way she stared / And the way she said, 'You missed a spot over there.'"

Also, Schlesinger's career extended well beyond his work in bands. He had a hand in many of the songs that populated the critically beloved TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and he won three Emmys - one for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and two, both with David Javerbaum, for co-writing songs performed in Tony Awards telecasts. With Javerbaum, Schlesinger was nominated for two Tonys (both for 2008's Cry-Baby) and won a Grammy for A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!.