Gwen Renée Stefani (//; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, fashion designer, and actress. She is the co-founder of and lead vocalist for the rock band No Doubt. Stefani recorded Love. Angel. Music. Baby., her first solo album, in 2004. Inspired by music of the 1980s,[2] the album was a success with sales of over seven million copies.[3] The album's third single, "Hollaback Girl", was the first US digital download to sell one million copies.[4] Stefani's second solo studio album, The Sweet Escape (2006), yielded "Wind It Up", "4 in the Morning", and the highest-selling single "The Sweet Escape". Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than forty million albums worldwide.[5]
She won the World's Best-Selling New Female Artist at the
World Music Awards 2005. In 2003, she debuted her clothing line
L.A.M.B. and expanded her collection with the 2005 Harajuku Lovers line, drawing inspiration from
Japanese culture and fashion. Stefani performs and makes public appearances with four back-up dancers known as the
Harajuku Girls. She married British musician
Gavin Rossdale in 2002 and they have two sons: Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, born May 26, 2006, and Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale, born August 21, 2008.
Billboard magazine ranked Stefani the fifty-fourth most successful artist and thirty-seventh most successful Hot 100 artist of the 2000–09
Early life
Gwen Stefani was born on October 3, 1969 in
Fullerton, California, and raised there,
[8] and grew up in a
Roman Catholic household. She attended
Loara High School in
Anaheim, California.
[9] She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel
Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from
The Four Tops' 1968 cover of
The Left Banke's 1966 hit song "
Walk Away Renée".
[10] Her father, Dennis Stefani, is
Italian American and worked as a
Yamaha marketing executive.
[11] Her mother, Patti (née Flynn), is of Irish and Scottish descent and worked as an accountant before becoming a homemaker.
[11][12] Gwen's parents were fans of
folk music and exposed her to music by artists like
Bob Dylanand
Emmylou Harris.
[9] She is the second oldest of four children: she has a younger sister, Jill Stefani, a younger brother, Todd, and an older brother,
Eric.
[9][12] Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt; he left the band to pursue a career in animation on
The Simpsons.
[8]
Many of the women in Stefani's family were
seamstresses, and much of her clothing was made by them or her mother. In school, she was diagnosed with
dyslexia.
[13] As a child, Stefani's musical interests consisted of musicals such as
The Sound of Music and
Evita. After making a
demo tape for her father, she was encouraged to take music lessons to train her "loopy, unpredictable" voice. Stefani made her onstage debut during a talent show at Loara High School, where she sang "I Have Confidence", from
The Sound of Music, in a self-made
tweed dress inspired by one from the film.
[1][3] Stefani was on the Loara swim team in an attempt to lose weight.
[14] She first worked at a
Dairy Queen and later manned the MAC makeup counter of a department store.
[15] After graduating from high school in 1987,
[1] she began attending
Fullerton College before transferring to
California State University, Fullerton.
[16]
Music career
1986–2004: Formation of No Doubt
During the time when No Doubt was receiving mainstream success, Stefani collaborated on the singles "You're the Boss" with The Brian Setzer Orchestra, "South Side" with Moby, and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Eve. No Doubt released the less popular Return of Saturn in 2000, which expands upon the New Wave influences of Tragic Kingdom.[21] Most of the lyrical content focuses on Stefani's often rocky relationship with then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and her overall insecurities, including indecision on settling down and having a child.[22]The band's 2001 album, Rock Steady, explored more reggae and dancehall sounds, while maintaining the band's New Wave influences, and generally received positive reviews.[23] The album generated career-highest singles chart positions in the United States,[24] and "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All" received Grammy Awards. A greatest hits collection, The Singles 1992–2003, which includes a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", was released in 2003 to moderate sales. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".[25]Eric introduced Gwen to
2 Tone music by
Madness and
The Selecter, and in 1986 he invited her to provide vocals for No Doubt, a
ska band he was forming.
[8] Finally, in 1991, the band was signed to
Interscope Records. The band released its
self-titled debut album in 1992, but its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of
grunge.
[17] Before the mainstream success of both No Doubt and
Sublime, Stefani contributed guest vocals to "Saw Red" on Sublime's 1994 album
Robbin' the Hood. Stefani rejected the aggressiveness of female grunge artists and cited
Blondiesinger
Debbie Harry's combination of power and
sex appeal as a major influence.
[18] No Doubt's third album,
Tragic Kingdom (1995), which followed the self-released
The Beacon Street Collection(1995), took more than three years to make. Five singles were released from
Tragic Kingdom'; one of them, "Don't Speak", led the US
Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1996.
[19] Stefani left college for one semester to tour for
Tragic Kingdom but did not return when touring lasted two and a half years.
[9] The album sold more than sixteen million copies worldwide,
[9] and received several
Grammy Award nominations.
[20]
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2004–05: Solo career and Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
Following No Doubt's hiatus, Stefani sought out her bandmate Tony Kanal to discuss the possibility of a solo career. The idea was to make a quick dance record, but this became a large collaboration with other artists, producers and various non-ska influences.
Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released in November 2004. The album features a large number of collaborations with producers and other artists, including Tony Kanal,Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, The Neptunes and New Order. Stefani created the album to modernize the music to which she listened when in high school, and L.A.M.B. takes influence from a variety of music styles of the 1980s and early 1990s such as New Wave andelectro.[26] Stefani's decision to use her solo career as an opportunity to delve further into pop music instead of trying "to convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth" was considered unusual.[2] As a result, reviews of the album were mixed, and it was described as "fun as hell but [...] not exactly rife with subversive social commentary."[27] The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in its first week.[28] It sold well, reaching multi-platinum status in the United States,[11] the United Kingdom,[29]Australia,[30] and Canada.[31] At the 2005 Grammy Awards, Stefani was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "What You Waiting For?",[32] and at the next year's awards, Stefani received five nominations for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.[33]
L.A.M.B.'s third single "
Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first US and second Australian number-one single; it was less successful elsewhere.
[34][39] The song was the first US
digital download to sell more than one million copies legally, and its
brass-driven composition remained popular throughout 2005.
[4] The fourth single "
Cool" was released shortly following the popularity of its predecessor, but failed to match its chart success, reaching the top twenty in US and UK.
[34][38] The song's lyrics and its accompanying music video, filmed in
Lake Como, Italy, depict Stefani's former relationship with Kanal.
[40] "
Luxurious" was released as the album's fifth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors. "
Crash" was released in early 2006 as the album's sixth single in lieu of
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'s sequel, which Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy.
[41]
2006–07: The Sweet Escape
Stefani's second solo album, The Sweet Escape, was recorded by Guy Charbonneau's Le Mobile Remote Recording Studio and released in December 2006.[42] Stefani recollaborated with Kanal, Perry, and The Neptunes, along with Akonand Tim Rice-Oxley from English rock band Keane. The album focuses more heavily on electronic and dance music for clubs than its predecessor.[11] Stefani commented that it differed from L.A.M.B. because "I just wasn't inspired to do another album and…I was a lot more relaxed making it."[43] Its release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani's first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. The album received mixed reviews by critics, who found that it "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel... [but] Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva"[44] and called the album a "hasty return" that repeats Love. Angel. Music. Baby. with less energy.[45]
"
Wind It Up", the album's
lead single, was panned by critics for its use of
yodeling and an
interpolation of
The Sound of Music,
[46] but was moderately successful, reaching the top twenty in most markets.
[47] The title track was well received. To promote
The Sweet Escape, Stefani was a mentor on the
sixth season of
American Idol and performed the song with Akon. It became Stefani's most successful song of her solo career and earned her a
Grammy Award nomination for
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
[48] In November 2006, the club single "Yummy" was released as a three-track maxi promo single and as a 12" vinyl single,
[49][50] both featuring a radio edit, an instrumental and an a cappella version of the song. "
4 in the Morning" was released as the album's third single. The album's fourth single was a hybrid version of "
Now That You Got It" which featured
Damian Marley. "
Early Winter" was released in February 2008 to moderate success on European charts. To promote the album, Stefani embarked a worldwide tour,
The Sweet Escape Tour, which covered North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific and part of Latin America. In an interview with
Entertainment Weekly on June 6, 2011, Stefani stated that she had no plans to continue work as a solo artist, adding, "That was a moment in time [...] It went on a little longer than we all thought it would, because it was inspired and you have to go with wherever you're at in that time in your life... [But] everything works out how it should."
[51]
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2008–present: Return to No Doubt
With Stefani promoting her second solo album, No Doubt began initial work on a new album without her
[52] and planned to complete it after Stefani's The Sweet Escape Tour was finished.
[53] In March 2008, the band started making posts concerning the progression of the album on their official fan forum. Stefani made a post on March 28, 2008 stating that songwriting had commenced but was slow on her end because she was, at the time, pregnant with her second child.
[54] The Singles 1992–2003 became available on December 9, 2008 for the video game
Rock Band 2.
[55] All members of No Doubt except for Stefani served as
Scott Weiland's backing band on the album
"Happy" in Galoshes. No Doubt announced on their official website they wanted to tour in 2009
[56] while finishing their upcoming album, which was set for release 2010.
[57] On November 24, 2008, it was announced that No Doubt would be headlining the
Bamboozle 2009 festival in May, along with
Fall Out Boy. The band completed a
national tour in the summer of 2009.
[58] In 2010 they resumed writing their record which was recorded in 2011. The leading single "Settle Down" was released in July. The album
Push and Shove was released on September 25, 2012 in the United States.
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Gwen Renée Stefani (/stəˈfɑːni/; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, fashion designer, and actress. She is the co-founder of and lead vocalist for the rock band No Doubt. Stefani recorded Love. Angel. Music. Baby., her first solo album, in 2004. Inspired by music of the 1980s,[2] the album was a success with sales of over seven million copies.[3] The album's third single, "Hollaback Girl", was the first US digital download to sell one million copies.[4] Stefani's second solo studio album, The Sweet Escape (2006), yielded "Wind It Up", "4 in the Morning", and the highest-selling single "The Sweet Escape". Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than forty million albums worldwide.[5].jpg)
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