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 has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

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

Career

Though Gene was labelled as a

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

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 Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and I've always felt very uncomfortable with the idea of

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

because it can be a very dangerous thing." He recorded four albums with the band between 1995 and 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, which released the four-track ''May'' EP in 2013. He works as a music teacher for

British and Irish Modern Music Institute BIMM University (BIMM) is a private university specialising in music, film, performing arts and creative technology. The university is principally based in the United Kingdom with other centres in Ireland and Germany. It is organised into five a ...

, and artist development officer at Access to Music. 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 first solo album, '' The Defenestration of St Martin'', was released on 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 original ...

, but it was repeatedly rescheduled as a result of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic and eventually took place at the O2 Forum Kentish Town 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'' had a bill of music acts and comedians and took place on 22 March 2022 at the

. In 2025 Rossiter was confirmed as taking part in his band'
Gene reunion gigs

Personal life

Rossiter is

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

. He lives in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

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 LGBTQ singers Welsh LGBTQ songwriters Welsh male songwriters Welsh bisexual men Bisexual male musicians Bisexual singers Bisexual songwriters Welsh socialists Welsh male singer-songwriters