Martin Rossiter


Martin Rossiter is a Welsh singer, who is noted for being the lead singer of the British indie band Gene from 1993 until their break-up in 2004. He released a solo album in 2012.

Career

Though Gene were labelled as a Britpop 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.
As well as writing and recording as a solo artist, he is also a member of the band Call Me Jolene, who released the 4-track "May" EP in 2013. He lives in Brighton, where he works as a music teacher for BIMM, and artist development officer at Access to Music. He has three children.
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 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.