The power of music

Marco Della Cava

Last summer Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine performed next to a splendid new Ferrari Roma, via webcast from his LA home. The car will be auctioned at the end of October as part of a Prancing Horse fundraiser in support of charity Save the Children

Adam Levine, versatile artist best known as Maroon 5’s frontman, lives a life fuelled by myriad passions including music and Ferrari cars. But topping the list is unquestionably the singer’s love of family, which starts with his wife Behati Prinsloo, the Namibian Victoria’s Secret model, and extends to their two young daughters, Dusty and Gio.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Levine and his wife joined forces with the Prancing Horse in pursuit of a noble cause: putting a spotlight on the autumn auction - to be held online October 22-29, via Sotheby’s - of one of the first Ferrari Roma gran turismo cars to be made available in North America. The proceeds will benefit the charity, Save the Children.

In July Levine and Prinsloo invited Ferraristi from around the world into their west Los Angeles home via a video presentation that included an introductory walk-around of the bold new Maranello GT as well as an acoustic solo performance by Levine of songs including Maroon 5’s ‘Sunday Morning’ and the Beatles standard, ‘Blackbird’.

The singer has long been active with charities. Since hitting the big time about 15 years ago, Levine has supported a host of causes including AIDS/HIV awareness campaigns, melanoma research, and attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder, which afflicted him as a child.

Describing his involvement in the Roma auction project, Levine said: “It was an obvious yes when we were approached by Ferrari. Behati and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of this unique launch and ultimately help a charity that we are fully supportive of.”

The Ferrari partnership with Save the Children is not new. In 2017, a LaFerrari Aperta was auctioned off to benefit the charity at the company’s 70th anniversary ‘Leggenda e Passione’ event held at the Fiorano test track. That sale sent $10 million to the organisation, which used it to advance an international education programme.

The soon-to-be auctioned Roma features options including carbon fiber front spoiler and rear diffuser, sports exhaust pipes, active matrix LED lights, carbon fiber under-door covers and passenger display. Built to U.S. specifications, the car - finished in Bianco Italia over a Bordeaux leather interior - will be auctioned only to North American bidders.

Funds from the October auction will help Save the Children address the learning loss that has accompanied the scattered re-opening of U.S. schools this autumn as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re delighted to open the next chapter of Ferrari’s ongoing collaboration with Save the Children,” said Matteo Torre, president of Ferrari North America, who had remotely joined Levine and Prinsloo from the Prancing Horse’s New York showroom for the video presentation.

The Roma is not the first Ferrari that Levine has ’met’: the singer has owned a 2017 F12 Tour de France that he commissioned - through the Tailor Made Programme - to resemble his 1965 275 GTB/2 Shortnose, as well as iconic models such as a 1966 330 GTC, a 1963 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso and a 1971 Daytona 365 GTB/4. The 330 was the first Ferrari he ever drove (and ultimately purchased, in 2010).

For the Maroon 5 frontman, “there is no car or driving experience like driving a Ferrari. Most cars lose me because they don’t have that romantic mystery that Ferrari has never compromised.”

As for the start of his Prancing Horse obsession, Levine laughed. “It was the late ‘80s, I was about 9 or 10 and it was before we discovered girls, and we fantasised about Ferraris, plain and simple,” he said. “And we had plenty of time to discuss Ferraris, because girls wouldn’t talk to us.”