Current Member 2001-present
Vocalist/guitarist Gavin Rossdale was born in London, England on October 30, 1967. Gavin grew up in Kilburn, a north west section of London. His father was a general physician and his mother a model. His parents divorced when he was 12 and Gavin mainly lived with his father after that point. Gavin did not speak as child until he was 4 years old. Prior to that time his sister Soraya did all of the talking for him. At the age of 8 he spent almost an entire year in and out of hospitals due to chronic ear problems, but had recovered by age 9.
In his late teens, Gavin started singing and put together a pop band called Midnight (originally called The Heroes). They played some gigs in the UK and even opened for a the popular English act Big Country. Midnight was on the rise and the band landed themselves a record deal. Unfortunately the group was not successful only releasing a few singles. They proved in be more popular in Spain. In 1987, Midnight split and Gavin along with close friend and bandmate Sacha Puttnam continued on in the band The Little Dukes. Once again it did not work out. Frustrated, Rossdale decided to tread a new route by teaching himself to play the guitar.
Gavin’s next band would yield the success that he was looking. In 1992, Bush had formed under the original name Future Primitive and from there the road to success was a short one. Just three years after first forming, the band gained massive popularity in the US. It would take an additional 2 years before they would gain notarity in their home country of England.
The road to fame may have been a short one, but the road out from under Nirvana’s shadow has been a long one. Rossdale’s early Bush career was a struggle to stay sane with the barrage of Nirvanawannabe comments and trying to keep hold of his long time girlfriend Jasmine Lewis. Gavin handled it in the best way he could, always being cool and collective and not succumbing to the harsh reality of things.
In 1996, Gavin met his now current wife Gwen Stefani while on tour together. Her band No Doubt had been the supporting act for Bush’s tour at that time. After a long term relationship they decided to get married at a total of 3 weddings in September 2002. Since then they have produced 3 children: Kingston, Zuma and Apollo.
Soon after the Golden State Tour wrapped up, Gavin released his first single as a solo artist, for the XXX soundtrack. Adrenaline was co-written with Glen Ballard. Gavin has also performed on stage with a number of artists including Camp Freddy, No Doubt, The Blue Man Group and Carlos Santana. Both the Blue Man Group and Carlos Santana recorded songs with Gavin, which appeared on their albums. In 2003, Gavin would also begin his acting career, getting signed on to his first movie Redlight Runners starring Dennis Hopper. This film, however, did not get the backing it need and would never be made. Additional films that Gavin successfully completed include: Little Black Book, Constantine, The Game of Their Lives, How to Rob a Bank and The Bling Ring. For a full list of Gavin’s acting credits and movie appearances please visit IMDB.com.
In 2005, Gavin would return his focus to music writing 14 new tracks. Not for Bush though, but rather a new band Institute. Co-produced by Gavin Rossdale and Page Hamilton (of Helmet). Ex-Bush fill-in Chris Traynor would also join. Their new album was released in September 2005 via Interscope Records and was titled Distort Yourself. Later in 2007, Gavin which switch to focusing on a solo career. He released his first unofficial single Can’t Stop The World which was immediately used as the theme song for the short lived tv series Drive, on Fox. The show was cancelled rather quickly. April 2008, Gavin released the song Love Remains The Same from his new album WANDERlust. The album’s summer release was looking bleak until Love Remains The Same starting getting picked up in many tv and movie promos, including Nights In Rodanthe.
Just before the final solo show for Gavin were completed, in June 2010, Gavin went onto KROQ radio to announce the Bush reunion. Even though only 50% of the original members would reunite the band announced they would be moving forward with a new album entitled Everything Always Now. The first new single Afterlife was played during the KROQ announcement for the band’s return. Unfortunately, the original October release for the album ended up being postponed. The fans were disappointed and had to wait almost a full year before an album would be released. September 2011, the album finally came out sporting a new title The Sea of Memories. The band toured on and off from 2010-2013 with their biggest shows taking place as the supporting act for Nickelback’s summer arena tour in 2012.
Bush released their 7th album Man on the Run in 2014 then launching a full tour in 2015. They unexpectedly cancelled the reminder of their summer dates with no explanation. Unfortunate news surfaced in August 2015 when Gavin and Gwen announced they were divorcing after being married over a decade. News swirling that Gwen had issues with Gavin touring, could be the reason why the band did not finish out the rest of their tour. Gavin remains in the Los Angeles area so he can be near his 3 young children.
Quotes
“Polly sang on ‘Ban The Bomb'”- Gavin Rossdale (referencing Poly Styrene).
“We’ve got one song called ‘Ban the Bomb’ which is an anti-self-obsession song, a protest song really. Apart from some of Asian Dub Foundation’s stuff, I haven’t heard any protest songs recently so I just wanted to do one.”- Gavin Rossdale
“We are gonna be doing a major world tour, there’s talk of getting in some really cool people to do remixes of tracks from ‘The Science of Things’ for a possible remix album, and we’ve just recorded a version of The Doors’ ‘Break On Through’ for a tribute album, so it’s all getting busy.” – Gavin Rossdale
Mad Dog Winston Music, Ltd.
Mad Dog Winston Music is Gavin Rossdale’s record label. There isn’t much information available, but below is what is known.
The label was started in 1994 as a means for Bush, then know as Future Primitive to release their own music. Only one single, Bomb, was ever released. Soon after Future Primitive was signed by a major record label and no longer needed to press their own music.
It would be 1997 before Mad Dog Winston would appear again. In conjunction with Interscope Records, Mad Dog Winston helped release an album for a Swedish band called Souls. The Souls only ever released one album entitled Bird Fish or Inbetween. The ‘Souls also had the chance to open for Bush on selected dates during Bush’s Razorblade Suitcase tour.
In 2011, Mad Dog Winston Ltd. surfaced again as Bush branched out from signing with a major label and created Zuma Rock Records. All songs from 2010 and 2011 have been published under Mad Dog Winston Ltd. Bush hit single The Sound of Winter hit a great accomplishment when it became the first rock/alternative song on an independent label to go to number 1.
