Coldplay frontman Chris Martin’s advice convinced Gavin Rossdale to finally learn how to play the piano.
Although he has fronted Bush since 1992, the 51-year-old rocker admits that his musical skills were limited as he never learnt how to play the instrument.
And it took his pal Chris to convince him to take piano lessons late in life in a bid to improve as a musician.
Speaking to British magazine Grazia about his biggest regret he says, “That I didn’t learn piano from an early age. Chris Martin is a friend and he encouraged me to have lessons in my forties.”
He also reveals that in his early days he was even written off as a singer, as an unnamed celebrity told his manager he wouldn’t make it as a vocalist.
Gavin explains, “Around the time that I first began to sing, my former manager was talking to a famous restaurateur in London who said, ‘Whatever you do don’t let Gavin sing.’ He grossly underestimated me.”
Over two decades on from founding Bush, he is now mentoring acts on U.K. TV talent show The Voice and says his musical taste has broadened to the extent that he’s a big fan of pop band One Direction.
“There’s a bunch of One Direction songs that I think are really good. And Zayn (Malik’s 2016 album) Pillowtalk is probably the best record of last year,” he shrugged.
In addition to appearing on The Voice, Gavin has been hard at work on a new Bush album, Black and White Rainbows, set for release on 10 March.
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