Song:Sleeps Well Tonight
Album:As Good As It Gets: The Best Of Gene
Despite constant comparisons to The Smiths, Gene had some success mostly in England. They never had a top ten single but the 1995 album Olympian was a top ten album in England. Fans of Brit-pop should check them out. Bassist John Mason and drummer Matt James were members of the group Spin. They released a couple of singles in 1990. A 1991 car accident left Mason in a coma for 11 days and the group's lead singer quit the band. After briefly quitting music to become a writer, Mason and James started working together again and recruited Kevin Miles to play bass. Mason moved to guitar. So now they need a singer. Mason met Welshman Martin Rossiter in a club and invited him to try out. They were going to use the name Spin but decided to change it to Gene. They released a 1994 single on a label owned by a couple of New Musical Express writers. The resulting press and positive response to live shows got them a contract with Polydor Records. Sleep Well Tonight was the first single from their 1995 debut CD Olympian. It reached #36 on the British Singles chart but the album reached #8 on the British Album chart. Gene toured the US and Olympian wasd released on A & M Records but they didn't make any impact. They went back to England and added keyboard player Julian Wilson. Their next couple of albums did well. But then they took a break in 1998. When they returned, the 1999 album Revelations was not received well and resulted in Polydor dropping Gene. They continued to tour and released the 2001 album Libertine on their own Sub Rosa label. They were doing OK but the group felt they were in a rut and split up in 2004. You can get all their hits on this comp. Martin Rossiter is a member of Call Me Jolene. Gene is worth checking out. Here's the video for Sleep Well Tonight by Gene. This video is not on Youtube.
Gene - Sleep Well Tonight
Jorge | Myspace Video
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