Passenger was born Michael Rosenberg on 17 May 1984 in Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, England to an English mother and an American father. He learned classical guitar at a young age, and he started writing songs at around 14-15. He later left school to pursue a career in the music industry. "I dropped out of school at 17 'cause all I wanted to do was play music. I had odd jobs on the side of gigging until I turned 22, when I was lucky to start doing this full time. I believe it's important to put all of your energy into what you're doing rather than doing an office job and trying to muster up energy for music. It's been a real blessing to play music full time," he said.

Rosenberg then met Andrew Phillips and they co-founded a band named Passenger in 2003. Working out of Phillips' studio, the duo recorded the songs that would become "Wicked Man's Rest", Passenger's debut and only album. The record, which songs were mostly written by Rosenberg, was released on ChalkMark in 2007 and spawned several singles, including "Wicked Man's Rest", "Walk You Home", "Do What You Like" and "Table for One". Passenger opened up for several high-profile indie acts throughout the U.K. that year, including Kate Nash and The Hold Steady. The following year found the band providing the soundtrack to film "Where Have I Been All Your Life?" and performing at the 2008 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2009, Passenger dissolved. Rosenberg then started his solo career and decided to keep the band's name for his solo work. His debut solo album, "Wide Eyes Blind Love", was released in 2009. A year later he released "Flight of the Crow" which featured collaborations with such artists as Josh Pyke, Katie Noonan, Elana Stone and others. In 2012, he released his fifth full-length effort, "All the Little Lights". While the album was released in the summer of 2012, it wasn't until 2013 that a tune from the record, "Let Her Go," broke through as a hit in Europe. By the end of the year, the single had reached No. 1 in 16 countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, and Belgium. Rosenberg began to work on his fifth album, "Whispers", toward the end of 2013 and enlisted "All the Little Lights" co-producer Chris Vallejo to work with him. Preceded by the title-track single, the record was released on June 9 and it eventually landed at No. 12 on Billboard 200.