gwen

In 2004, Stefani wrote and recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. The album contained pop music and dance tracks, and included hip hop and R&B-influences. Its third single "Hollaback Girl" became the first U.S. digital single to exceed sales of one million.

Stefani is currently working on a second solo album due for release in late 2006. She married Bush front man Gavin Rossdale in 2002 and gave birth to her son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, in 2006.

Early life

Gwen Stefani was born in Fullerton, California, but grew up in Anaheim. Her father, Dennis Stefani, is Italian American, and her mother Patti Flynn is of Irish and Scottish descent. She has a sister, Jill, and two brothers, Eric and Todd. Jill appeared in No Doubt's "Just a Girl" music video. Gwen attended California State University, Fullerton, and Loara High School (class of 1987), where she was on the swim team. Her first job was scrubbing floors at a Dairy Queen, and she once worked at the makeup counter of a department store. Her brother Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt, but eventually left the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons. Other members of the group include Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Stefani had a 7 year relationship with the band's bassist Tony Kanal. The relationship was kept a secret from the band for a while. Unfortunately, Stefani already had the image of marriage in mind, which scared Tony, and eventually they broke it off. Through this difficult time, Stefani went through a period of depression and began to write her own songs. Thus, the birth of their third album Tragic Kingdom. Most of the CD is written about Tony through her time of heartbreak, eventually resulting in one of their most successful CDs. Stefani's breakthrough came in 1995.

Career

1986–Present: No Doubt

Main article: No Doubt

The band's third album Tragic Kingdom, which followed their eponymous debut No Doubt (1992) and The Beacon Street Collection (1995), took three years to make. During this time, the band almost split up due to the break up of Kanal and Stefani. However, this was to become a major inspiration for Stefani lyrically. The album, released in 1995, was certified diamond in the US for shipping over 10 million copies and sold 15 million copies worldwide.^[2] Following the success of Tragic Kingdom, Stefani became highly popular and recognizable. The tension this produced with the other members of the band was touched upon in their video for the song "Don't Speak". Stefani met Bush and now Institute frontman Gavin Rossdale in 1995 at a concert in which she was performing to promote Tragic Kingdom. The release of The Singles 1992-2003, a CD with the band's best hits, and Everything in Time: B-sides, Remixes and Rarities prompted media speculation about a break-up, which the band denied in later interviews.

Outside of No Doubt Stefani has collaborated with other artists, most notably for the singles "South Side" and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Moby and Eve respectively. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind."

2004–2006: Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released in November 2004 across the world. The album made its debut on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling more than 310,000 copies in its first week. In early 2005 it reached a peak position of number five in the U.S. and number three in Canada. Love. Angel. Music. Baby. topped the albums chart in Australia. Unexpected success came in Mexico for Love.Angel.Music.Baby., as 4 of the 6 singles released for the album reached the top 10: "Cool" and "Hollaback Girl" peaked at 1, while "What You Waiting For" and "Rich Girl" peaked at 9 and 8, respectively. Remixes of the songs maintained the singles on the Mexican charts until March 2006 when after more than half a year of sales and airplay, "Hollaback Girl" exited the Mexican Top 100. The album itself peaked at number 2, and was the highest selling English album in the country for over a month.

Stefani collaborated with singer-songwriter Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes on the album, along with The Neptunes, OutKast's André 3000, and Dallas Austin among others. The first single released from the album was "What You Waiting For?", which was a top twenty success in Asia and Europe.

"Rich Girl" was released as the album's second single from the album; a duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre, it is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British musicians Louchie Lou and Michie, which itself is a cover of "If I Were a Rich Man", from the musical Fiddler on the Roof, written by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. "Rich Girl" proved successful on several formats, and reached the UK and U.S. top ten. Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'s third single "Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first U.S. and second Australian number-one single; it peaked at number eight in the UK and at number twelve in Canada. The song was the first U.S. digital download to sell more than one million copies legally, and its brass-driven composition remained popular throughout 2005. Its lyrical content features the word "shit" thirty-seven times. Maxim magazine voted it the most annoying song of all time.

The fourth single "Cool" was released shortly following the success of its predecessor, but failed to match its chart success, reaching the U.S. and the UK top twenty. However, "Cool" was Stefani's first Canadian number-one single. The song's music video, filmed in Lake Como, Italy, depicts Stefani's former relationship with No Doubt bass guitarist Tony Kanal, and it received strong rotation on Canada's MuchMusic. "Luxurious" was released as the album's fifth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors. "Crash" was released as the album's sixth single in early 2006 in lieu of the production of Love. Angel. Music. Baby. sequel, which Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy.

Stefani received five Grammy Award nominations on December 8, 2005. She was nominated in five categories: "Album of the Year", "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance", "Best Pop Vocal Album", "Record of the Year" and "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration".

Stefani had an extremely successful solo career with Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and is working on a second solo album (supposedly titled "Sweet Escape"), due by the end of 2006. The release date has recently been confirmed as December 4th, 2006. She is working again with Pharrell, Tony Kanal, and Swizz Beatz. No Doubt has also been recording in 2006. The other members of No Doubt have returned to the studio and it is claimed that bandmate Tony Kanal has already written new songs. In addition to the new album, a DVD release of the Harajuku Girls tour will be released by the end of 2006.

In honor of the Harajuku Girls and her recent tour, in the fall of 2006, along with the release of her new album, Gwen plans to release a line of dolls, which will range from a "Hollaback Girl" doll to a "Luxurious" doll. These high-end dolls will be sold in stores internationally later this year.

Harajuku Girls

The release of her solo album has also brought attention to Stefani's entourage of four Harajuku Girls. Named Love, Angel, Music, and Baby by Stefani, the Harajuku girls are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo, Japan, known as a popular shopping destination and fashion centre for teenagers. Following the style of their namesake area, Stefani's Harajuku girls are usually flamboyantly dressed (sometimes in a somewhat "Gothic Lolita" style). They have been featured in her music videos and press coverage and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and have a song dedicated to them on the album. However, Stefani's adoption of this component of Japanese culture drew criticism from Mihi Ahn at Salon.com, and others who feel that Stefani has stripped Japanese street fashion of its authenticity and created yet another example of the 'submissive Asian female' stereotype. Wrote Ahn,

According to the Jan/Feb 2006 edition of Blender magazine, stand-up comic Margaret Cho has labeled the Harajuku Girls as a "minstrel show" that reinforces ethnic stereotypes of Asian women.

Personal life

Stefani met Bush and now Institute frontman Gavin Rossdale in 1995 at a concert in which she was performing to promote Tragic Kingdom. On September 14, 2002 Stefani and Rossdale married, and they have homes in California and the Primrose Hill district of London .

In December 2005 they announced that they were expecting their first child together, the pregnancy being announced during a concert in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During an August 8, 2005 appearance on the radio show Loveline, Rossdale said that he and Stefani preferred to keep their relationship entirely out of the media. He also said that he grew up in a chaotic home, and stated that having a stable environment for his family was important to him. On May 26, 2006, they welcomed a son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Kingston weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces (3.4 kilograms)^{[4] [5]} and was born by caesarean section due to breech presentation.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Grammy Award history

MTV Video Music Awards

Best Male Video Award

• 2001: Moby ft. Gwen Stefani - South Side

Best Female Award

• 2001: Eve ft. Gwen Stefani - Let Me Blow Ya Mind

Best Group Video Award

• 1997: No Doubt - Don't Speak
• 2002: No Doubt - Hey Baby
• 2004: No Doubt - It's My Life

Best Pop Video Award

• 2002: No Doubt - Hey Baby
• 2004: No Doubt - It's My Life

Best Choreography Award

• 2005: Hollaback Girl

Best Art Direction Award

• 2005: What You Waiting For

Trivia

• Stefani has created a successful fashion line, named L.A.M.B., which showcases clothing that Stefani is often seen wearing herself. The line also includes handbags and purses. Celebrities such as Nicky Hilton, Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, Nicole Richie, Jenny McCarthy, Alicia Keys and Halle Berry have been seen sporting her fashion line and LeSportsac bags.
• Although Stefani's natural hair color is brown and she has previously colored it blue and pink, she is known for her famously bleached platinum blonde hair and bright red lipstick.
• She designed and promoted a Harajuku girl-themed camera for Hewlett-Packard.
• Stefani has the honor of being the only person to win in the Best Male Video and Best Female Video categories at the MTV Video Music Awards, and in the same year. In 2001, Moby won Best Male video for "South Side", which Stefani was featured in, and Eve won Best Female video for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", which also featured Stefani.
• Stefani's favourite bands include Sublime, 311, Blur, Radiohead, Madness, U2 and Jamiroquai.
• Stefani lent her voice to the title character of Malice, a PS2 and Xbox video game; before completion, however, the company opted not to use No Doubt band-members' voices.
• Stefani has said that the part of her body she values most is her feet. ^{citation needed]}
• Stefani made her acting debut playing Jean Harlow in the 2004 Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator and made a quick cameo appearance in the movie Zoolander.
• When not touring, or working on her other projects, she shares two homes with her husband, Gavin Rossdale. One in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles and the other in London.
• Her vinyl red gown that she wore on the cover of No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom was stolen from the Fullerton Museum Center in Orange County, United States. Speculation circulates that the dress might have been sold. ^{citation needed]}
• Stefani has been quoted as saying: "I think I've been able to fool a lot of people because I know I'm a dork. I'm a geek."^[6]
• Stefani had three weddings; one in London, one in California and a private wedding for close relatives.
• Stefani has been quoted as saying that she and Madonna share a common Italian relative. Stefani claimed that her great aunt married a man from Detroit, Michigan (the area of Michigan that Madonna is from) with the last name "Ciccone." ^{citation needed]}
• As a friend and former crush to Bradley Nowell, of the ska/punk band Sublime, Stefani staged a benefit concert in Southern California following his death. She also sung opposite Nowell in the 1994 Sublime song "Saw Red" and the 1995 song "Total Hate 95".
• The name of her debut solo album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby. shares the name with her clothing line, L.A.M.B. (L. for Love, A. for Angel, M. for Music, B. for Baby)
• Her favourite jewelry are Hawaiian heirloom bracelets. (as seen in her video for Luxurious.)
• Stefani said that she would like to collaborate with British band Keane on her next album.^{citation needed]}
• Stefani used to date Reel Big Fish frontman Aaron Barrett. She was the inspiration of "She's Famous Now" from Reel Big Fish's "Why Do They Rock So Hard?" Album. ^{citation needed]}
• L.A.M.B was also the name of her much loved dog, which died before her debut solo album was released, this the album title. She now has a dog called Winston. ^{citation needed]}
• In fall of 2006, Gwen Stefani will release a limited edtion line of dolls which she dubbed, "L.A.M.B. Fashion Dolls." The dolls are styled after her and her Harajuku girls.
• Is very close with her brother, and No Doubt co-creator, Eric Stefani.
• In 2006, with husband Gavin Rossdale, they purchased a home in a very prominent gated-community of Beverly Hills, California that once was owned by Jennifer Lopez.
• No Doubt bassist (and former boyfriend) Tony Kanal donated an X-Ray of his broken finger as an image for L.A.M.B T-shirts.

Notes

See also

• Harajuku Girls
• Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005
• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• List of artists who reached number one in Ireland

External links

• Official website
• Gwen Stefani at the Internet Movie Database
• Gwen Stefani interview at musicOMH.com
• Gwen Stefani at MusicBrainz