Music Career
Adam, Ryan, and Jack initially began composing their own music in the living room of their Chelsea apartment. DIY (Do It Yourself) indie pop has always been their preferred musical genre. By 2006, they had started performing in places like Central Park and Washington Square Park. The group drew inspiration from a wide range of musical acts, from the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Vampire Weekend, Jon Bellion, and Imagine Dragons to Kanye West, Macklemore, Twenty One Pilots, and Fun.
The group established themselves in the music scene of New York before Ryan sent out that fateful Tweet in 2013. Australian singer Sia Furler, who was one of the celebrity recipients of the tweet, spoke to her own manager about them. He, in turn, reached out to Greenberg, who ultimately became their co-manager. Adam is the group’s bassist and background vocalist, while Jack is the lead vocalist, guitarist, drummer, keyboardist, and percussionist, and Ryan is the trumpeter, keyboardist, and background vocalist.
On August 22, 2013, the group released their debut single, ‘I’m Ready’. It reached the fifth spot on the Australian music sales chart and was certified Platinum by RIAA and 2XPlatinum by ARIA. By then, they had been putting out original music for a while. AJR released their debut EP, ‘Born and Bred’, on March 20, 2010, through LARJ Productions. On 12 September, the brothers put out their second EP, named ‘Venture’, also through LARJ Productions. Their third self-titled EP was released through their own record label in 2012.
The group released their fourth EP, ‘I’m Ready’, in collaboration with Liberator Music on December 20, 2013. Adam and his brothers were awarded the Clear Channel's "Artist on the Rise" accolade for the month of October 2013. In January 2014, they received the iHeartRadio Artist of the Month accolade.
AJR’s fifth EP, ‘Infinity’, reached the 36th spot on the US Heat chart. Released on September 23, 2014, the EP was the brothers’ first collaboration with Warner Bros. Records. They put out their debut album, ‘Living Room’, also through Warner Bros., on March 3, 2015. On September 16, 2016, the brothers put out their most recent EP, ‘What Everyone’s Thinking’, which contains the incredibly popular lead single ‘Weak’. Written by the brothers within the span of a few hours, ‘Weak’ received Platinum certification in US, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, and Belgium, and Gold certification in Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Australia. The song was also featured on their second album, ‘The Click’, which was released on June 9, 2017.
‘Neotheater’, their third album, was put out on April 26, 2019. Adam, Ryan, and Jack got the chance to perform its lead single, ‘100 Bad Days’, on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on March 11, 2019. ‘Neotheater’ was a massive hit, opening on the Billboard's Top Alternative Albums chart at #1, Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart at #1, and Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart at #8.
AJR has served as the opening act on the tours of Andy Grammer, Demi Lovato, Hoodie Allen, Lindsey Stirling, Train, and Fitz & the Tantrums, to name a few. On March 2019, Adam and his brothers revealed they are going to embark on a world tour to promote ‘Neotheater’.
Family & Personal Life
Adam was born on August 27, 1990, in New York, USA, in a Jewish family. Both of his parents, Laurie Marvald and Gary Metzger, are architects. He is four years older than Ryan and seven years older than Jack. The siblings spent their early childhood in Bayside, Queens before their parents decided to move the family to Chelsea, Manhattan, as they believed the latter to be a better place to raise the children.
Adam was a student at New York City Lab School from 2001 to 2008. He then enrolled at Columbia University, from where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business management and philosophy in 2012.
