Gwen StefaniGwen Stefani
A native of Anaheim, California, Gwen Stefani first experienced mainstream success with the release of No Doubt's 1995 album Tragic Kingdom, which spawned hits such as "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak". In 2004, Gwen Stefani wrote and recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby., for which she consulted producers The Neptunes, singer-songwriter Linda Perry and OutKast frontman André 3000, among others. The album contained pop music and dance music tracks, including hip hop and slow jam-influences. The third single, "Hollaback Girl", was very successful, and became the first U.S. digital single to exceed sales of one million. Pharrell has stated he has produced, and is still tweaking new
tracks for Gwen Stefani's second solo album, which is scheduled for a
late 2006 release.
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 Stefani 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 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. 1986-present: No Doubt The band's third album, following their eponymous debut No Doubt (1992) and The Beacon Street Collection (1995), Tragic Kingdom, 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 Gwen Stefani lyrically. The album was released in 1995 and spawned several hits, beginning with "Just a Girl". Following the success of Tragic Kingdom, Gwen 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". Gwen 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 Gwen Stefani has collaborated with other artists,
most notably for the singles "Southside" and "Let
Me Blow Ya Mind" with Moby and Eve respectively. In 2002, Eve
and Stefani won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let
Me Blow Ya Mind." 2004-present: Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Gwen Stefani's debut solo album, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.," was released on November 22, 2004 in Europe and Asia and on November 23, 2004 in North America. Gwen Stefani's debut sold more copies in its first week (310,000) than any No Doubt album ever had in the United States. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and at number five on the Canadian albums chart; it reached number four in the UK and number one in Australia. Gwen Stefani had collaborated with singer-songwriter Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes on the album, along with Pharrell Williams and André 3000, Wendy & Lisa among others. "Rich Girl" was released as the second single from the
album; it is a duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre. "Rich
Girl" is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British reggae
musicians Louchie Lou and Michie, which itself is partly a cover
of the song "If I Were A Rich Man" from the musical Fiddler
on the Roof, written by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. "Luxurious" became the fifth single release from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and her sixth single "Crash" was released in early 2006 in lieu of the production of L.A.M.B.'s sequel, which Gwen Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy. Gwen Stefani received five Grammy award nominations on December 8, 2005. She was nominated in the following categories: Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Gwen Stefani did not receive any awards at the Grammys on February 8, 2006. Though Gwen Stefani has had an extremely successful solo career with her album Love.Angel.Music.Baby., she plans on recording with No Doubt in 2006, although recording may be halted due to her pregnancy. It's been reported that the remaining members of No Doubt have gone back into the studio in mid-March and that bandmate Tony Kanal has already penned some new songs.
Harajuku Girls The release of her solo album has also brought attention to Gwen Stefani's entourage of four Harajuku Girls. Named Love, Angel, Music, and Baby by Gwen Stefani, the Harajuku girls are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo, Japan, known as a popular shopping destination and fashion center for teenagers. Following the style of their namesake area, Gwen 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, Gwen Stefani's adoption of this component of Japanese culture drew criticism from Mihi Ahn at Salon.com, and others who feel that Gwen Stefani has stripped Japanese street fashion of its authenticity and created yet another example of the 'submissive Asian female' stereotype. Wrote Ahn, Gwen Stefani has taken the idea of Japanese street fashion and turned these women into modern-day geisha, contractually obligated to speak only Japanese in public, even though it's rumored they're just plain old Americans and their English is just fine... she's swallowed a subversive youth culture in Japan and barfed up another image of submissive giggling Asian women. According to the Jan/Feb 2006 edition of Blender magazine, stand-up
comic Margaret Cho has labelled the Harajuku Girls as a "minstrel
show" that reinforces ethnic stereotypes of Asian women. Pregnancy Gwen Stefani and her husband Gavin Rossdale announced in December 2005
they are expecting their first child together. The baby is said
to be due in late May or early June of 2006. She has been seen shopping
for baby clothes in neutral colors, because she and Rossdale don't
want to know the sex of their baby until he or she is born in June.
Despite this fact, Gwen Stefani and Rossdale announced in April 2006
that their baby is a girl, further substantiated by Gwen Stefani's pink-themed
baby shower. Trivia Gwen Stefani has created a successful fashion line, named L.A.M.B., which showcases clothing that Gwen Stefani is often seen wearing herself. She reportedly received an $8 million advance for associating her name with the line. 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 Gwen Stefani's natural hair color is brown and she has previously colored it blue and pink, she is known for her famously platinum blond hair and bright red lipstick. She has dark brown eyes. Gwen Stefani claims to be a "female shooter." Gwen Stefani's nicknames are Sunshine and G-loc. She designed and promoted a camera for Hewlett-Packard. Gwen Stefani's favourite bands include Sublime, 311, Blur, Radiohead, Madness and Jamiroquai. Gwen Stefani is close friends with Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Gwen 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. Gwen Stefani made her acting debut playing Jean Harlow in the 2004 Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator, but 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 Centre in Orange County, United States. Speculation circulates that the dress might have been sold. Gwen 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." Gwen Stefani had two weddings; one in London and one in California. Gwen Stefani has been quoted in saying that she and Madonna share a common Italian relative. Gwen Stefani has claimed that her great aunt married a man from Detroit, Michigan (the area of Michigan that Madonna is from) with the last name "Ciccone." As a friend to Bradley Nowell, of the ska/punk band Sublime, Gwen Stefani staged a benefit concert in Southern California following his death. She still keeps close friendly ties with all members of No Doubt. The original Italian pronunciation of her surname Stefani is Stèfani
(first syllable stressed)
Discography Studio Albums: Singles: Gwen Stefani Picture GalleryThis article (or parts thereof) is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. |
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Gwen Renée Stefani (born October 3, 1969) is an American
singer, fashion designer, and occasional actress; and is the frontwoman
of the ska/rock band No Doubt.
