Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong covers 'That Thing You Do' in tribute to Adam Schlesinger

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs onstage during the 2017 Global Citizen Festival: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs onstage during the 2017 Global Citizen Festival: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has paid tribute to the late Adam Schlesinger with a cover of ‘That Thing You Do!’.

The “American Idiot” singer has been recording his own version of classic songs from lockdown for a series titled “No Fun Mondays” over on his YouTube channel.

In this week’s video, Armstrong covered the fictional hit Schlesinger wrote for Tom Hanks’s 1996 comedy film of the same name and dedicated it to the songwriter, who died of coronavirus on 2 April at the age of 52.

“Another week, another No Fun Mondays,” Armstrong captioned the video. “Today’s song is a tribute to the late Adam Schlesinger and the incredible music he wrote including this one, ‘That Thing You Do’.”

Alongside his work on film, Schlesinger was best known for performing in “Stacy’s Mom” band Fountains of Wayne and for co-writing the soundtrack to musical comedy series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Hugh Grant was among the stars to share a heartfelt message about the Emmy-winning musician. having worked with Schlesinger on 2007 musical romcom Music and Lyrics.

Grant wrote: “Bleak, bleak news. Adam Schlesinger. Bona fide genius and lovely person. Gold and silver.”