Martin Rossiter (born 15 May 1970) is a Welsh singer, who was lead singer of the British indie band

Gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

from 1993 until their break-up in 2004. He released a solo album in 2012.

Career

Though Gene was labelled as a

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

band, Rossiter was never happy being included in the genre saying "It was played out under the dirty shadow of the union flag which I always found quite distasteful. I never had any desire to represent Great Britain. At the time I said that I regarded myself as European rather than British. I'm a Socialist and I've always felt very uncomfortable with the idea of nationalism because it can be a very dangerous thing." He recorded four albums with the band over the period 1995 to 2001, and performed live until 2004. In addition to writing and recording as a solo artist, he is also a member of the band Call Me Jolene, who released the four-track ''May'' EP in 2013. He works as a music teacher for

BIMM The British and Irish Modern Music Institute, now styled as the BIMM Institute, is a group of eight independent colleges which specialise in the provision of creative education in Brighton, Bristol, London, Dublin, Manchester, Berlin, Birmingha ...

, and artist development officer at

Access to Music Access to Music (noAccess Creative College was a UK-based independent training provider which specialised in industry-focused popular music and creative education. It operated across England with dedicated music colleges in Birmingham, Brighton, Br ...

. In 2011 Rossiter made his solo live debut in Brighton, where he performed new material, which was later released as ''Live at the Unitarian Church''. His debut solo album ''

The Defenestration of St Martin ''The Defenestration of St. Martin'' is the debut album by former Gene lead singer Martin Rossiter, released in November 2012 through Pledge Music. The album features Rossiter accompanying himself on piano. Track listing Reception The album ha ...

'' was released 3 December 2012 on the Drop Anchor Music label. He wrote most of the songs on piano over a five-year period and financed the record through crowd-funding. Rossiter embarked on a UK tour in support of the album. It was followed in 2014 by a live album accompanied by a DVD entitled ''Live at Bush Hall''. On 26 August 2019, Rossiter announced a farewell show with full band, performing a one-off career-closing set spanning all areas of Gene and his solo work. The show was originally scheduled to take place on 13 June 2020 at the

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...

. However, the show was repeatedly rescheduled as a result of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic, and eventually took place at the

O2 Forum Kentish Town The O Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England owned by MAMA & Company, and originally built in 1934. History The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the cinema was close ...

on 20 November 2021, after a one-off warm-up show at Concorde 2 in Brighton on 11 November 2021. Rossiter came out of retirement to participate in a charity fundraising show for Ukrainian refugees: ''A Night For Ukraine'' featured a bill of music acts and comedians, and took place on 22 March 2022 at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.

Personal life

Rossiter is bisexual. He lives in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossiter, Martin 1970 births Britpop musicians Living people People educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys 21st-century Welsh male singers Welsh songwriters Bisexual musicians British male songwriters