AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Fountains of Wayne

Artist:Fountains of Wayne

Song:Stacy's Mom

Album:Ultimate Sk8er Rock

Stacy's Mom was a top 30 pop hit in 2003. It turned out to be the only big hit for the power pop group Fountains of Wayne. Lead singer Chris Collingwood and bassist Adam Schlesinger met when they attended Williams College in Williamstown, MA. Collingwood is from Sellersville, PA and Schlesinger is from Montclair, NJ. They joined forces in 1995 to form Fountains of Wayne named after a lawn ornament store in Wayne, NJ. I assume Schlesinger was familiar with the store. A demo got them a deal with Atlantic Records. Then they brought in lead guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian Young was recommended by Atlantic. Though they wrote songs individually, Schlesinger and Collingwood shared all songwriting credits because they didn't want to argue about that. They released two albums on Atlantic. They were highly acclaimed but they didn't sell so Atlantic dropped them. They almost split up as Collingwood was depressed. But they returned with the 2003 album Welcome Interstste Managers and the single Stacy's Mom. It reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. It turned out to be Fountains of Wayne's only big hit. It was Grammy nominated. The video featured famous model Rachel Hunter. Schlesinger said the song is based on a childhood friend who thought Schlesinger's grandmother was hot. Fountains of Wayne released two albums for S-Curve and one for Yep Roc. But they were unable to score another hit single. Their final album was released in 2011. Collingwood released a 2016 album as Look Park. Meanwhile Schlesinger built a career as a for hire songwriter especially for films. His theme for the 1997 film That Thing You Do was nominated for an Oscar. He also wrote songs for Josie and the Pussycats, Ice Age: Continental Drift and plenty of others. He got a Tony nomination for the Broadway musical Cry-Baby. And he has Emmy nominations for Sesame Street, songs for Emmy and Tony Awards broadcast and his most recent show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Sadly Adam Schlesinger died of COVID-19 on Apr. 1, 2020 at age 52. Stacy's Mom is on several various artists comps including this 2CD budget comp from BMG Europe. Here's the video for Stacy's Mom by Fountains of Wayne.