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Gwen Stefani

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Gwen Stefani
File:Gwen-stefani.jpg
Stefani in 2004.
Background information
OriginAnaheim, California
Years active1986–present (band)
2004–present (solo)

Gwen Renée Stefani (born October 3 1969) is an American singer and actress, and is the frontwoman of the ska/rock band No Doubt.

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". Follow-up albums did not match the sales of Tragic Kingdom, but were successful on different levels of popularity and genre.

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 a very successful international single, and became the first U.S. digital single to exceed sales of one million.

Biography

Beginnings

Gwen Stefani was born in Anaheim, California. Her father, Denis 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. 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 Tony Kanal (with whom Stefani had a seven year relationship), Tom Dumont, and drummer Adrian Young. On September 14 2002, Stefani married Gavin Rossdale, former lead singer of the band Bush. In 2003, No Doubt took an unlimited break to concentrate on other projects; Stefani pursued a solo career, releasing the album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. to great success.

File:No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom.jpg
Stefani on the cover of No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom, 1995

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. The album was released in 1995 and spawned several hits, beginning with "Just a Girl". 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". Many of the album's songs, including "Don't Speak" and "Spiderwebs", were inspired by Stefani's relationship and breakup with fellow band member Tony Kanal. Stefani had dated Kanal for seven years until he ended the relationship. She slipped into depression after touring for Tragic Kingdom.

Stefani met Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale in 1995 at a concert in which she was performing to promote Tragic Kingdom. No Doubt went on to tour and won the Best Rock Group and Best New Artist awards at the Grammys. 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 "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."

Solo debut — Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

File:Gwen Stefani - Love, Angel, Music, Baby.jpg
Gwen Stefani on the cover of her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)

Even though she constantly denied any musical aspirations outside of No Doubt, Stefani released her debut solo single "What You Waiting For?" on October 4 2004 in North America. It reached the top twenty in Canada but underwhelmed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 when it barely reached the top fifty. The single performed better outside of North America, reaching number four in the United Kingdom and number one in Australia; its dance music sound could be blamed for its American failure.

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. It was capable of selling more copies in its first week than any No Doubt album had in the United States (310,000). 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. Stefani had collaborated with singer-songwriter Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes on the album, along with Pharrell Williams and André 3000 among others.

"Rich Girl" was released as the second single from the album; it is a duet with rapper Eve. "Rich Girl" is an adaptation of a 1960s 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.

The third single taken from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first North American and second Australian number-one single; it peaked at number eight in the United Kingdom. In the U.S. it became the first non-urban or non-American Idol song to reach the number one position since the 2001 Nickelback single "How You Remind Me." The song became the first U.S. digital download to surpass sales of one million. The fourth single "Cool" was released on July 5 2005 in North America and August 22 2005 elsewhere in the world, becoming a substantial hit but not did not match the chart success of its predecessor perhaps because of lost interest due to Mariah Carey's huge comeback; it reached the top twenty in the U.S. and UK, the top ten in Australia and number one in Canada. The music video for "Cool," filmed in Lake Como, Italy, shows Stefani paying homage to her Italian heritage as well as 1950s bombshells Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Sophia Loren, and Brigitte Bardot.

"Luxurious" became the final single release from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., reaching the top thirty in the U.S., Canada, and Australia; its release was given a lukewarm reception in the UK, where it was incapable of reaching the top forty altogether, peaking at number forty-four, and quickly descending the chart.

Gwen Stefani received five Grammy award nominations on December 8, 2005. She has been 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.

Originally announcing plans to release a follow-up album to Love. Angel. Music. Baby., consisting of songs that did not appear on her first album, Stefani stated that she was exhausted from her fourth-quarter 2005 Harajuku Lovers Tour and stated that she wanted to "relax... and take a nap". This statement, however, acted as a pregnancy cover-up until December 2005. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, out on her Harajuku Lovers Tour, Stefani announced herself that she was pregnant with husband and Bush frontman, Gavin Rossdale's, baby. During her song "Crash" she screamed to the audience, "I want you to sing so loud that the baby hears it!" The rumors of Gwen's pregnancy have been swirling for months, but now it has been officially confirmed. The baby is due in June 2006, meaning Stefani was pregnant in September 2005, right before the Harajuku Lovers Tour started.[1] Her album plans were thus halted and now it is uncertain if Stefani's solo will return in 2006 at all.

Although Stefani is currently not working on solo material, it is said that No Doubt is to return to the studio in mid-2006.

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 center 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. [2], 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,

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 racial stereotypes of Asian women.

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 platinum blond hair and bright red lipstick. She has dark brown eyes.
  • Stefani's nicknames are Sunshine and G-loc.
  • She designed and promoted a camera for Hewlett-Packard.
  • Stefani's favourite bands include Sublime, 311, Blur, Radiohead, Madness and Jamiroquai.
  • Stefani is close friends with Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage.
  • 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 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.
  • 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."[3]
  • Gwen had two weddings; one in London and one in California.

Grammy Award History

Grammy Career Stats (Solo)

  • Grammy Wins: 1
  • Career Nominations: 8

Album of the Year

Song of the Year

Record of the Year

  • "Hollaback Girl" Nominated 2006

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

  • "Hollaback Girl" Nominated 2006
  • "What You Waiting For" Nominated 2005

Best Pop Vocal Album

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

Discography

Main article: Gwen Stefani discography

.

Studio albums

Year Album U.S. UK CAN AUS GER
2004 Love. Angel. Music. Baby. 5 4 5 1 5

Singles

Year Title Album U.S. UK CAN AUS GER CHN
2004 "What You Waiting For?" Love. Angel. Music. Baby. 47 4 11 1 22 –
2005 "Rich Girl" Love. Angel. Music. Baby. 7 4 4 2 4 5
2005 "Hollaback Girl" Love. Angel. Music. Baby. 1 7 1 1 3 4
2005 "Cool" Love. Angel. Music. Baby. 13 11 1 10 20 3
2005 "Luxurious" Love. Angel. Music. Baby. 21 44 19 26 – –
2006 "Serious + Bubble Pop Electric" Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

See also

Notes

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