Fountains of Wayne to reunite after Adam Schlesinger death for “JERSEY 4 JERSEY”

Fountains of Wayne are set to perform live Wednesday for the first time in seven years to honor co-founding member Adam Schlesinger, who died from complications of the coronavirus.

The Grammy-nominated rock band was added on Monday to the line-up of entertainers participating in “JERSEY 4 JERSEY,” a fundraiser benefiting the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund.

Surviving members of the group will perform with Sharon Van Etten filling in for Schlesinger on bass and backing vocals, lead singer and guitarist Chris Collingwood confirmed.

“Adam would have been proud that Fountains were helping to raise money for fellow New Jerseyans,” Mr. Collingwood, 52, said in a statement.

Schlesinger died on April 1 after contracting COVID-19, the contagious respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus responsible for the ongoing pandemic. He was 51.

The New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund awards grants to organizations “to fight the medical, social and economic impact of COVID-19 on New Jersey’s most vulnerable,” according to its website. It was established last amid the Garden State being hit especially hard by the coronavirus outbreak, and it includes First Lady Tammy Murphy on its board of directors.

Launched in 1995, Fountains of Wayne was named after a lawn ornaments store on Route 46 in Wayne, New Jersey. Schlesinger grew up and had attended high school in nearby Montclair.

Fountains of Wayne had released three records by the time the band was nominated to receive the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2004 while riding the success of “Stacy’s Mom,” a radio hit that spent several weeks on the singles charts in the U.K. and U.K. The group had effectively dissolved after last performing live in late 2013, although its members remained active in the years since, with Schlesinger notably winning an Emmy Award last year for music he wrote for the television show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

Ms. Van Etten, an acclaimed singer-songwriter, is a native New Jerseyan as well. She said in a statement she is “truly humbled” to join Fountains of Wayne in Schlesinger’s honor.

Wednesday’s event will be broadcast on local television and radio stations and streamed through Apple Music and Apple TV, and organizers said 100 percent of all donations made during the show made will go toward the fund.

Other famed New Jerseyans scheduled to participate in the event include Bruce Springsteen, Jon Stewart, Tony Bennett, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Bon Jovi, Danny DeVito and Kelly Ripa.

The New Jersey Department of Health has confirmed more than 92,000 cases of COVID-19 and determined that over 4,700 people within the state have died after contracting the disease.

Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, issued a stay-at-home order that took effect March 21, making New Jersey among a majority of states to impose business and travel restrictions meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

More than 800,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.