Gavin Rossdale
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Image:GavinRossdale.jpg Gavin McGregor Rossdale (born October 30,1965 [1] - though the fan biography claims it was 1967, in Kilburn, London, England) was the lead singer and guitarist of the British rock group Bush. His parents are Barbara Stephan (b. Scotland) and Douglas Rossdale (a doctor of Russian Jewish descent); they divorced when he was eleven years old and he was raised primarily by his father and aunt (his mother remarried and moved to Florida). He has an older sister, Soraya, and a younger one, Lorraine (daughter called Jade). Rossdale modelled briefly, producing some embarassing fashion shots with good friend Marilyn. Gavin learned to play bass guitar after hanging out with Soraya's boyfriend who was in a band called The Nobodyz, but switched to rhythm guitar. At 17, he had left Westminster School, played semi-pro soccer until side-lined by an injury, and formed a band called Midnight (formerly Little Dukes), which produced a couple of singles and a bunch of publicity photos. In 1991, Gavin moved to LA 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 before returning to England inspired to start a new band. Hooked up with future manager Dave Dorrell (MARRS), whom he had met in LA, around this time. 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 and in the summer of 1994 and released the promo Sixteen Stone. Rossdale has homes in in Primrose Hill, London and California, and is a regular on the celebrity tennis circuit in the latter. On September 14 2002 Rossdale married Gwen Stefani, lead vocalist of the ska punk band No Doubt. In 2004, it was revealed that he was the father of Pearl Lowe's 16-year-old daughter, Daisy Lowe. Rossdale and Lowe had a former relationship and Rossdale had been the godfather of Daisy. Rossdale and Stefani are expecting their first child in June 2006. 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, hinting at mild abuse, and stated that having a stable environment for his family was important to him.
Musical career
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 throaty singing voice and random, stream of consciousness-style lyrics were dismissed by a some as an imitation of Nirvana's lead singer, Kurt Cobain (though ironically the latter received similar accusations of unoriginality himself). Although the band reached superstar status in the U.S., they failed to have much impact on the Brit-Pop riddled UK charts, the lone exception being their single "Swallowed", which reached #7. 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 (produced by Steve Albini), The Science of Things, and Golden State, none of which matched the sales success of the debut album.
Rossdale was featured on the Sony Pictures XXX soundtrack in 2002 with a song called "Adrenaline." The song was also the official theme song for WWE's Unforgiven pay-per-view event in September 2002.
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 one song was used in the motion picture Stealth.
In 2005 Rossdale appeared in the motion picture Constantine playing the villain Balthazar. Rossdale has also appeared in the films The Game Of Their Lives and Little Black Book.