Bush-X

Background:

“I know that sometimes we get accused of being a band that’s successful on account of my average cheek bones. But it IS a good band. I’m not the most arrogant person in the world, but I’m going to start to be. I’m sort of sick of being misrepresented.” Gavin Rossdale

Multifaceted British performer Gavin Rossdale, sometimes credited as Bush-X / Bush, has reached superstar status in the United States as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the British grunge rock band Bush (1992-2002). Their debut album, Sixteen Stone (1994), spawning a hit single called “Everything Zen,” was a huge commercial success, selling over 4 million copies and peaked at No. 4 on The Billboard 200. Ironically, his band has been widely loathed by his fellow countryman for not being part of the Britpop scene, a criticism Rossdale has received due to his revulsion of Britpop music. Rossdale is the current lead singer and guitarist of Institute, a group he formed in 2004. Also an actor, Rossdale has acted in several films, including Constantine (2005), The Game of Their Lives (2005), How to Rob a Bank (2007) and Frost Flower (2007).

As for his personal life, Rossdale own homes in Primrose Hill, London, and California, where he is a regular on the celebrity tennis circuit. In the late 2004, he discovered that he has a 15-year-old daughter with Pearl Lowe named Daisy. Rossdale and Lowe had a past relationship and he had been the godfather of Daisy. Rossdale has been married to No Doubt front woman Gwen Stefani since 2002. The two met in December 1995 when their bands were performing at a concert for Los Angeles radio station KROQ. They become the parents of son Kingston James McGregor Rossdale (born 2006). Rossdale stated during a 2005 appearance on the radio show Loveline that he and Gwen preferred to keep their relationship completely out of the media. He also said that he was raised in a messy home, and confirmed that having a secure environment for his family was important to him.


Mr. Stefani

Childhood and Family:

Gavin McGregor Rossdale was born on October 30, 1965, in Kilburn, London, England. His parents, Douglas Rossdale, a general physician of Russian Jewish descent, and Barbara Stephan, a former model originally from Scotland, divorced when he was eleven years old. He went to live with his father and aunt, while his mother remarried and relocated to Florida. Gavin has two sisters, Soraya (older) and Lorraine (younger).

Engaged to Gwen Stefani, lead vocalist of the rock band No Doubt, in 2001, Gavin eventually married his singer/actress girlfriend on September 14, 2002, at St. Paul’s Church in London’s Convent Garden. The couple welcomed a 7 pounds, 5 ounces baby boy named Kingston James McGregor Rossdale on May 26, 2006, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Gavin, who earned nickname Mr. Stefani, also has a daughter, Daisy Lowe (born 1989), from a previous relationship. He knew that he was the girl’s biological father when she was 15 years old.


Sixteen Stone

Career:

Before music, Gavin Rossdale modeled briefly, during which time he produced some embarrassing fashion shots with good buddy Marilyn. He learned to play bass guitar after hanging out with his sister’s boyfriend who was in a group named The Nobodyz, but later switched to rhythm guitar. After leaving school, he participated in semi-professional football until side-lined by an injury. Returning to music, Rossdale formed the band Midnight (formerly Little Dukes) in his late teens. The group received success at the club circuits, which led to a record contract. However, they failed to sell albums after the release of a few singles and immediately split up. In 1991, the London native stayed at Los Angeles for six months, where he supported himself by taking various jobs, including production assistant on video shoots. He also spent some time in NYC with his good friend Bill MacAdam before heading back to England encouraged to start a new group. In 1992, Rossdale met guitarist Nigel Pulsford, drummer Robin Goodridge and bassist Dave Parsons and formed the post-grunge rock band Bush (formerly Future Primitive).

After struggling for a year, Rossdale and the Bush received a break when music manager Rob Kahane, who at that time needed acts for his newly established Hollywood Records subsidiary, Acme, offered a record deal to them. The group willingly signed, and in 1994, their first album, Sixteen Stone, was released to massive commercial success in the United States, thanks to the hit single “Everything Zen,” which became one of the most requested songs at the time. Sixteen Stone sold over 8 million copies and reached No. 4 on The Billboard 200. Despite their victory, some critics labeled Bush as a substandard imitative of such band as Nirvana and Pixies, and this condemnation followed them throughout their career as a band.

Teaming up with producer Steve Albini, who, ironically, produced Nirvana, Bush launched the sophomore effort Razorblade Suitcase in November 1996 and it scorched through the Billboard chart, landing at No. 1 in its first week of release. It spawned the hit single “Swallowed,” which was nominated for a 1998 Gammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Bush next release was Deconstructed, a 1997 collection of remixed songs, and marked the band’s first foray into electronica. It was a chaos, disgusting old fans while failing to attract new ones. The Science of Things, Bush’s fifth album, fared better on the charts than Deconstructed, but failed to live up to its predecessors. In 2001, following an extended hiatus, the band released their comeback Golden State, a return to the simple, hard-driving sound that made Bush popular. Unfortunately, the album was also a disappointment, and Bush unofficially broke up in the following year. Although his band was diminishing into the dark of night, Rossdale remained on the spotlight, especially due to his relationship with No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani.

Rossdale began his solo career in the summer of 2002 with song “Adrenaline” for the the movie XXX. The song also became the official theme song for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)’s Unforgiven pay-per-view event in September 2002. This led to collaboration with The Blue Man Group on the song “The Current” (2003). In 2004, Rossdale formed a new band called Institute, and their debut album, Distort Yourself, was released on September 13, 2005, to a modest success. The single “Bullet-proof skin” was used in the movie Stealth. The band embarked on a small club tour in America and played a few shows in Europe.

At the same time Rossdale started a new band, he also branched out into acting, and made his debut in a supporting role in the romantic comedy film Little Black Book (2004), starring Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, Kathy Bates and Ron Livingston. He then played the villain Balthazar in the Keanu Reeves supernatural thriller Constantine (2005) and starred as Stanley Mortensen in the history film The Game of Their Lives (2005).

Currently, Rossdale plays a bank robber in comedy/crime film How to Rob a Bank (2007), opposite Erika Christensen and Nick Stahl. He will rejoin Holly Hunter for the upcoming drama Frost Flower, slated for March 2007 release. As for music, it is said that the talented performer is now working on a solo album with help from hit-maker Pharrell.


Awards:
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