Adam Frederic Duritz was born August 1, 1964 in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, El Paso, Texas, and Berkeley, California. Duritz has lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and, most recently, New York City. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at Davis, but dropped out before earning a degree.

Duritz is the lead singer and founding member of the rock band Counting Crows. Before forming Counting Crows he was lead singer for Bay Area band The Himalayans. He was also involved in another San Francisco-based band, Sordid Humor.

He has collaborated with The Wallflowers (led by Bob Dylan's son Jakob Dylan) on the album Bringing Down The Horse (1996), with Ryan Adams on the album Gold (2001), and with Live on V (2001).

In addition to his musical pursuits, Duritz has had a hand in producing the movies The Locusts (1997) and Burn (1998).

In 1997, he began his own record label, E Pluribus Unum. He signed bands Joe 90, Gigolo Aunts and Neilson Hubbard, all of which he took on the road to open for Counting Crows. In 2000, E Pluribus was put to rest when it was purchased by Interscope.