Fountains of Wayne’s Surviving Members to Reunite, Joined by Sharon Van Etten, for NJ Benefit Webcast
By Chris Willman
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) –
The surviving members of Fountains of Wayne will reunite Wednesday — joined by Sharon Van Etten on bass and backing vocals — to perform in tribute to the late Adam Schlesinger on “Jersey 4 Jersey,” a benefit live-stream taking place Wednesday night.
Said Chris Collingwood, the band’s co-founder and lead singer, “Brian (Young), Jody (Porter) and I are honored to be part of the Jersey 4 Jersey benefit, and grateful that Sharon was able to perform with us. Adam would have been proud that Fountains were helping to raise money for fellow New Jerseyans.”
The show will be broadcast at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday on Apple Music and AppleTV apps. The list of high-profile New Jersey natives participating in the benefit includes Bruce Springsteen, Halsey, Tony Bennett, Jon Bon Jovi, SZA, Charlie Puth, Saquon Barkley, Danny DeVito, Whoopi Goldberg, Chelsea Handler, Kelly Ripa, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart and more.
Fountains of Wayne has not performed together since their last tour gig on Oct. 19, 2013. The group, which had experienced creative tensions during the making of their final album, 2011’s “Sky Full of Holes,” quietly went separate ways after that without ever officially announcing a breakup, as Collingwood and Schlesinger went on to pursue separate projects (Tinted Windows and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” in Schlesinger’s case, Look Park in Collingwood’s).
“As a New Jersey native, it means so much to me to participate in the NJPRF charitable event that gives back to this community,” says Van Etten in a statement. “Adam was an incredible songwriter and I am truly humbled to join Fountains of Wayne in his honor.”
Schlesinger died from COVID-19 complications April 1. Tributes have flowed in in the three weeks since — including, just Monday, a fresh cover of “That Thing You Do!” by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong . The cast of the 1996 film of that name did a YouTube reunion Friday in memory of Schlesinger.
Wednesday’s show is to benefit the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund.
Besides Apple Music and AppleTV, E Street Radio on SiriusXM, which is currently free, will carry the event live and rebroadcast it five times. Local TV outlets carrying the show in the region include WABC Channel 7, WPVI 6ABC, WPIX, News12, NJTV; radio outlets include 1010 WINS, WCBS 880, CBS-FM, WFAN, New York’s Country 94.7, Alt 92.3 and Q104.3.
