About
Gavin McGregor Rossdale (born 30 October 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor, and is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush. Rossdale helped form Bush in 1992; upon the band’s separation in 2002, he became the lead singer and guitarist for Institute and later began a solo career. Rossdale resumed his role in Bush when the band reunited in 2010. In 2013, Rossdale received the British Academy’s Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement.
Rossdale was born in Marylebone, London, the son of Barbara Stephan (née Bowie) and Douglas Rossdale, a doctor. His mother was born in Scotland, whereas his father was of Russian Jewish descent, with the family’s surname originally being Rosenthal.
Rossdale has been the lead singer and songwriter for the British band Bush since its inception as a grunge band. Their debut album, Sixteen Stone (1994), was a huge commercial success.
Bush’s albums include the aforementioned Sixteen Stone, Razorblade Suitcase, Deconstructed, The Science of Things, and Golden State. All albums had commercial success, which led Bush to be one of the best-selling rock groups to come out of the 1990s. Although the band reached superstar status in the US, they failed to have much impact in the UK, which at the time was preoccupied with Britpop. The sole exception to this was their single “Swallowed”, which reached Number 7 on the UK charts. A change in record labels and management did not bode well for the band, who disbanded in 2002.
On 21 June 2010, it was announced that Bush would return and planned to release a new album, The Sea of Memories, in the autumn of 2011. It was released on 13 September 2011. Bush have since released two more albums; Man on the Run in 2014, and Black and White Rainbows in 2017.
Rossdale performed a song entitled “Adrenaline” for the soundtrack of the film XXX, which features it during the end credits. This song was also the official theme song for WWE’s Unforgiven pay-per-view event in September 2002 and also was The Undertaker’s Desire/Tribute theme of that same year. He also guest appeared for Blue Man Group’s “The Current” and is featured in its video. This song was used in the ending credits of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
In 2004, after Bush had been on hiatus for two years, Rossdale formed Institute. Their album, Distort Yourself, released on 13 September 2005 achieved moderate success and the single “Bullet Proof Skin” was used in the motion picture Stealth. In an interview published in November 2008, Rossdale noted that the Institute record was, “for all intents and purposes, a solo record. It was just a bad marketing decision to call it something else”. Institute broke up in 2006, after one album.
Rossdale’s single, “Can’t Stop the World,” was 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. Rossdale’s first solo record, entitled Wanderlust, was released 3 June 2008. Gwen Stefani, Rossdale’s then wife, sang background vocals on the track “Can’t Stop The World”, with other vocalists on the album including Shirley Manson, Katy Perry and Dave Stewart. Bush and Institute guitarist Chris Traynor also played on the album. He also made a guest appearance on the DT8 Project album Perfect World, taking lead vocals and co-writing the track Falling.
On 1 April 2008 the first single from WANDERlust, “Love Remains The Same”, was released through digital retailers. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at Number 76, rising to 27 in October 2008, giving Rossdale his first Top 40 hit since the days when he fronted the post-grunge band Bush. Rossdale mounted a full-scale solo tour in Spring 2009. Of the album’s title, Rossdale said, “I just liked it because it’s kind of sexy enough, it’s powerful, it’s one word. Wanderlust sums up that desire for music and for singing and performing and this life.”
Rossdale also provides the vocals for the Apocalyptica song “End of Me,” which is the lead single from their latest album 7th Symphony.
Rossdale was a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists’ careers. In 2013, Rossdale was awarded in the Ivor Novello Awards, for International Achievement in Songwriting, which was presented to him by Chris Martin. On 27 October 2017, Rossdale sang with Linkin Park at their special memorial concert in memory of vocalist Chester Bennington. He performed the song “Leave Out All the Rest”.
