With their Grammy-nominated debut, Maroon 5 ushered their soulful pop and RB synthesis into whopping airplay and acceptance. An auspicious entry, but less known is the band’s history, stretching their high school years through a failed record deal, a name change, cross-country relocation a regrouping, and finally…success.

While still in high school, the band, then named Kara’s Flowers, made their debut at the venerable Whiskey A Go-Go in their hometown, Los Angeles. Hundreds of high school kids gathered to see them. Signed to a record deal, the band -- and everyone around them --was optimistic.

“Especially when you’re 17, you’re in high school, you’re cocky, and you have people telling you you’re going to be huge and giving you a bunch of money and all that/ You’re like, ‘Sweet. Cool. We’re going to be famous. Our problems are going to be solved.’ By Christmas we were going to famous. What happened was, by Christmas, we were in the toilet,” laughs the band’s Adam Levine.

After attending college back east, Levine and James Carmichael returned to Los Angeles to reform the band, now named Maroon 5.

The band’s Ryan Dusick says, “Somebody once told me that nobody is ever going to love, or work as hard, or support our band as much as we are. So I think the struggle as far as finding people who are going to represent you in any way – whether it’s management, a record label, or booking agent – is to find the people that really support you, the people who really feel like the project is their project almost as much as it is yours.”

With will.i.am, an African-American; Fergie, a glamorous caucasion; Taboo, who is Latino; and apl.ed.ap, a Filipino, Black Eyed Peas is clearly about inclusion.

Although the band has experienced phenomenal success, it was a long, slow climb that included an earlier incarnation of the group being signed to a label deal and then spending three years waiting for a CD that was never released. The band’s leader, will.i.am testifies that adversity only made his resolve grow stronger. He relates his band’s ascension to the popularity of hip-hop.

“Hip-hop is all because of technology, because they cut some school program in New York, so someone started teaching music on a turntable. When there’s a boundary, and they put borders up, you go around it and get things done. Hip-hop is a culture of not having: to one day obtain by other means. There would be no hip-hop if they hadn’t cut school funding for music.”
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Christina Aguilera is one of the hottest musical stars on the planet. She's a five-time Grammy award winner who keeps chalking up chart-topping hits and platinum albums.

"The little girl with the big voice" had to endure ridicule and worse from classmates as she pursued her dream of singing. She persevered and had already spent several years "paying dues" as a performer by the time she landed a role on the New Mickey Mouse Show next to Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. She was still only 13.

Aguilera's career could have peaked with her mouseketeer days, but she kept on striving. She was so determined to achieve that she even recorded demo vocals with a handheld recorder in her bathroom.

What words of advice does Aguilera have for teen musicians also pursuing their musical dreams?

"Don't let anyone say you can't do it or it can't be done. Really I mean, look into yourself, look into your own creativity, explore every asset of it, find out what's new or individual about you and yourself and don't be afraid to be different or explore in that way and to want to dream.

"And if you're in a bad situation turn it into a positive one by dreaming; by keeping with your goals. Cause I think that something that got me to this point was my drive. I had a lot of negative situations that I turned into positive ones just by focusing on this dream of wanting to be a singer. I was just not going to give up."