Counting Crows

Counting Crows' lead singer, Adam Duritz, attended UC Davis in 1983 before transferring to UC Berkeley after his freshman year. It was during his latter high school years in Oakland that he began writing songs. Adam dropped out of UC Berkeley just two credits shy of a bachelor's in English because he felt it was a waste of time studying other writers when he himself was working in a genre not recognized by the institution.

Counting Crows formed in 1989 when singer Adam Duritz and guitarist David Bryson hooked up in San Francisco and began performing acoustically. The duo later expanded to include bassist Matt Malley, Charles Gillingham on keyboards, and Steve Bowman on drums. Their 1993 debut album produced by T-Bone Burnett, August & Everything After, was released to critical acclaim.

• Adam Duritz (lead vocals)
  

• David Bryson (guitar)
  

• Ben Mize (drums)
  

• Charles Gillingham (keyboards, organ)
  

• Matt Malley (bass)
  

• David Immergluck (guitar)
  

• Dan Vickrey (guitar)

• August and Everything After (1993)
  

• Recovering the Satellites (1996)
  

• Across a Wire: Live in New York (1998)
  

• This Desert Life (1998)
  

• Hard Candy (2002)
  

• Films About Ghosts: The Best Of (2003)
  

• Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (2008)

Greg Johnson won the 1996 Dateline Story-Writing Contest for his tale of playing with Adam Duritz at a greek event. Read Adam's somewhat angry response on an archived snapshot of his old website by scrolling most of the way down the page.