Gavin Rossdale

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Gavin Rossdale
Rossdale in August 2005
Rossdale in August 2005
Background information
Birth name Gavin McGregor Rossdale
Born 30 October 1965 (1965-10-30) (age 42)
Origin London, England
Genre(s) Grunge
Post-grunge
Rock
Instrument(s) Vocals, Guitar
Associated acts Bush
Institute

Gavin Rossdale (born Gavin McGregor Rossdale, 30 October 1965)[1] is a British musician most famous for being the lead singer and guitarist of the former British rock band, Bush, and later the lead singer and guitarist of Institute, which broke up in 2006 after only one album. He is also currently married to Gwen Stefani, they have one son, Kingston, and are expecting their second child in 2008.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Rossdale was born in Kilburn, London, to parents Lucy Stephan (b. Scotland) and Douglas Rossdale (a doctor of Russian descent); his parents divorced when he was eleven years old, and he was raised primarily by his father and aunt. (His mother remarried and moved to South Tampa, Florida, off of fashionable Bayshore Blvd.). Rossdale has a younger sister, Soraya, and an older one, Lorraine.

Rossdale modelled briefly, producing some fashion shots with good friend, Marilyn. He learned to play bass guitar after hanging out with his sister Lorraine's boyfriend, who was in a band called The Nobodyz, but he switched to rhythm guitar. At 17, he left the Westminster School, played semi-professional football until side-lined by an injury, and formed a band called Midnight (formerly Little Dukes), which produced a couple of singles and many publicity photos. In 1991, Gavin moved to Los Angeles for 6 months, lived where he could, and took whatever part-time jobs were available, including production assistant on video shoots. He spent some time in NYC with his good friend Bill MacAdam before returning to England inspired to start a new band. He hooked up with future manager Scottie Mac (SSM), whom he had met in LA. In 1992, Gavin formed Future Primitive, whose original line-up (under the name The Diceheads) included screenwriter Sacha Gervasi, who left to pursue a film-making career. The band changed its name to Bush in the summer of 1994 and released the promo Sixteen Stone.

[edit] Bush

Main article : Bush
Gavin was the lead singer/songwriter for the UK post-grunge rock band Bush. Their first album, Sixteen Stone (1994), was a huge commercial success. Almost overnight, Bush went from playing small pubs in London to headlining arenas in the US, the result of extensive, non-stop touring. However, some critics labelled them as an inferior derivative of bands such as Nirvana and Pixies, and this criticism followed them throughout their career as a band. In particular, Rossdale's forced, raspy singing voice and random, stream of consciousness-style lyrics were dismissed by some as an imitation of Nirvana's lead singer, Kurt Cobain. Although the band reached superstar status in the U.S., they failed to have much impact in the UK, which at the time was rather preoccupied with Britpop. The sole exception to this was their single "Swallowed", which reached #7 in the UK charts. A change in record labels, management and an extended hiatus did not bode well for the band, who unofficially split in 2002.

Bush's albums include Razorblade Suitcase (recorded by Steve Albini), Deconstructed, The Science of Things, and Golden State, none of which matched the sales success of the debut album, Sixteen Stone.

[edit] After Bush

In 2004, after Bush had been on hiatus for two years, Rossdale formed Institute. Their first album, Distort Yourself, released September 13, 2005 achieved moderate success and the single "Bullet-proof skin" was used in the motion picture Stealth.

Rossdale made a song titled "Adrenaline" for the soundtrack of the movie xXx, it is featured during the end credits. The song was also the official theme song for WWE's Unforgiven pay-per-view event in September 2002.

He also guest appeared for Blue Man Group's "The Current" and is featured in its video. The song was used in the ending credits of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

In 2005, Rossdale appeared in the motion picture Constantine (2005) playing the villain Balthazar. Rossdale has also appeared in the films Zoolander (2001), The Mayor of Sunset Strip (2003), Little Black Book (2004), and The Game of Their Lives (2005). He will next be seen in the heist film How to Rob a Bank alongside Nick Stahl and Erika Christensen.

In 2007, on Rossdale's website, he has announced that he is now working on new music. It will be a solo album, and he is very happy with the sound of the album, citing he went back to his roots from Bush. Rossdale's single, "Can't Stop the World," is the introduction theme to Fox's programme, Drive.

In 2007, he covered John Lennon's "Mind Games" for the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. Later that year, Gavin finished recording his first solo record entitled Wanderlust. It is expected out in early 2008. He also made a guest appearance on the DT8 Project album Perfect World, taking lead vocals and co-writing the track Falling.

[edit] Personal life

Rossdale has homes in Primrose Hill, London and California, and is a regular on the celebrity tennis circuit in the latter.

In 2004, it was revealed that he was the father of Pearl Lowe's daughter, Daisy Lowe (b. 1989). Rossdale and Lowe had a former relationship and Rossdale had been the godfather of Daisy.

On September 14, 2002 Rossdale married Gwen Stefani, American pop/rock singer and lead singer of the rock/ska/punk band No Doubt. During an August 8, 2005 appearance on the radio show Loveline, Rossdale said that he and Gwen preferred to keep their relationship entirely out of the media. He also said that he grew up in a chaotic home, and stated that having a stable environment for his family was important to him. On May 26, 2006, they had a son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Kingston weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces (3.4 kilograms).[2] [3] In January of 2008, Gavin's father confirmed that Gwen is pregnant with the couple's second child.[4]

Rossdale has homes in Primrose Hill, London and California, and is a regular on the celebrity tennis circuit in the latter.

In 2004, it was revealed that he was the father of Pearl Lowe's daughter, Daisy Lowe (b. 1989). Rossdale and Lowe had a former relationship and Rossdale had been the godfather of Daisy.

On September 14, 2002 Rossdale married Gwen Stefani, American pop/rock singer and lead singer of the rock/ska/punk band No Doubt. During an August 8, 2005 appearance on the radio show Loveline, Rossdale said that he and Gwen preferred to keep their relationship entirely out of the media. He also said that he grew up in a chaotic home, and stated that having a stable environment for his family was important to him. On May 26, 2006, they had a son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[2] [3] In January of 2008, Gavin's father confirmed that Gwen is pregnant with the couple's second child.

[edit] External links

 v • d • e Bush
Gavin Rossdale - Nigel Pulsford - Dave Parsons - Robin Goodridge - Chris Traynor - Sacha Puttnam
Discography
Albums: Sixteen Stone - Razorblade Suitcase - Deconstructed - The Science of Things - Golden State - The Best of: 1994-1999 - Zen X Four
Singles: "Everything Zen" - "Little Things" - "Comedown" - "Glycerine" - "Machinehead" - "Swallowed" - "Greedy Fly" - "The Chemicals Between Us"
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavin_Rossdale"
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