Gavin Rossdale

Gavin McGregor Rossdale (born 30 October 1965) is an English musician and actor, known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush. Following Bush's separation in 2002, which lasted for eight years, he was the lead singer and guitarist for Institute, and later began a solo career. When performing solo, Gavin plays songs from his extensive musical libraries. Rossdale has been ranked in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader (#75). --- Rossdale was born in Kilburn, London, the son of Barbara Stephan (née Bowie) and Douglas Rossdale, a doctor. His mother was born in Scotland and his father's parents were of Russian Jewish descent, the family's surname originally being Rosenthal. 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 Tampa, Florida. Rossdale has a younger sister, Soraya, and an elder one, Lorraine. Rossdale's half sister, Georgina Rossdale-Smith, is a doctor. Rossdale 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 Westminster School, and formed a band called Midnight (formerly Little Dukes), which produced a couple of singles and many publicity photos. In 1991, Rossdale 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 before returning to England where he came into contact with future manager Dave Dorrell (MARRS), whom he had previously met in LA. In 1992, Rossdale formed Future Primitive, whose original line-up 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. --- In 1995, Rossdale met Gwen Stefani, lead singer of the ska punk band No Doubt, when Bush and No Doubt were on tour. The two married in 2002. In 2005, on the radio show Loveline, Rossdale said that he and Stefani preferred to keep their relationship entirely out of the media because he grew up in a chaotic home and that having a stable environment for his family was important to him. On 26 May 2006, Rossdale and Stefani had a son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Kingston weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces. On 21 August 2008, Stefani gave birth to the couple's second son, Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale, in Los Angeles. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces. In 2004, a paternity test revealed that Rossdale was the father of Pearl Lowe's daughter, Daisy Lowe (born 1989); Rossdale and Pearl Lowe had had a brief relationship and Rossdale had been Daisy's godfather. Reportedly, Rossdale subsequently cut off all contact with his teenage daughter and her mother, but in 2009 several websites published photos of Daisy walking with Kingston on a London pavement. Both Daisy and Rossdale have said in 2010 interviews that their relationship is good. He has said "With Daisy, I just have to be respectful. I suppose it's more like a friendship." In his 1995 autobiography Take It Like A Man, Boy George wrote that in the 1980s Rossdale had an affair with the British singer Peter Robinson, a.k.a. Marilyn. In a 1996 interview for Rolling Stone, Rossdale responded with a shrug: "That's George's take – he doesn't know me. There's a queue of people going to their lawyers about stuff in his book. I hope he manages to sell some books by putting my name in there." Elsewhere both Rossdale and Marilyn initially denied the story. Then in 2009, Marilyn confirmed it and said they had been "together five years" in the 1980s; in 2010, Rossdale said it had been an experimentation and "part of growing up". Marilyn said, "Gavin and Gwen are perfect for each other, but he was the love of my life." Rossdale and Stefani have homes in Primrose Hill (London), and Los Angeles (California). Rossdale is an avid tennis player. Rossdale and Stefani are also friends of tennis players Lindsay Davenport and Roger Federer – often seen supporting him at tournaments. At the 2010 Farmers Classic in Los Angeles, he teamed up with Michael Chang, playing against Jim Courier and comedian Jon Lovitz.