For most of their career, the band has consisted of singer Beth Ditto, multi-instrumentalist Nathan "Brace Paine" Howdeshell, and drummer Hannah Blilie.

Gossip was formed in 1999 in Olympia, Washington, by vocalist Beth Ditto, guitarist Nathan "Brace Paine" Howdeshell, and drummer Kathy Mendonça.

[2] All three were originally from Searcy, Arkansas; Mendonça moved to Olympia to attend Evergreen State College and Howdeshell and Ditto followed.

In November 2003, two months after the release of their first live album Undead in NYC on September 9, drummer Kathy Mendonça left the band to pursue a career as a midwife.

Gossip's first UK TV appearance was on BBC1's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, where they performed the title track "Standing in the Way of Control".

[5] During the summer of 2007, Gossip was a part of the multi-artist True Colors Tour 2007,[6] which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada.

Hosted by comedian Margaret Cho and headlined by Cyndi Lauper, the tour also included Debbie Harry, Erasure, Rufus Wainwright, The Dresden Dolls, The MisShapes, The Cliks, and special guests.

Gossip is based in Portland, Oregon and has played with bands such as Sleater-Kinney, Le Tigre, CSS, Erase Errata, Mika Miko, Panther, Comanechi, and Mates of State.

[9] On March 12, 2012, the band's comeback single, "Perfect World", was unveiled on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show.

[19] In an interview with the BBC in March 2024, Ditto talked about how she invited Howdeshell when she was struggling to record her second solo album with Rick Rubin at his studio in Hawaii.

[20] The same year, Gossip embarked on a European and North America tour,[21] including headlining at the Woodsies stage at Glastonbury.