Gwen Renée Stefani (born October 3, 1969) is an American pop, rock and dance singer, songwriter, fashion designer and occasional actress. Stefani made her debut in 1992 as the frontwoman of the third wave ska band No Doubt.
In the media Stefani is known as a fashion trendsetter and she debuted her clothing line L.A.M.B. in 2003. It includes many accessories as well as jackets and jeans and she is producing new material set for an early 2007 release.
Gwen Stefani was born in Fullerton, California, and grew up in nearby Anaheim. She was named after a stewardess in the best-selling 1968 novel Airport, which her mother read during her pregnancy; her middle name, Renee, was inspired by the song "Walk Away Renée". Her father, Dennis Stefani, a Yamaha marketing executive, 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. Stefani attended Loara High School (class of 1987), where she was on the swim team and marching band, and California State University, Fullerton. 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 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 an eight-year relationship with Kanal, which was kept secret from the rest of the band for a while. Kanal ended the relationship because he said that he needed "space".
No Doubt's third album Tragic Kingdom (1995), which followed the self-titled No Doubt (1992) and The Beacon Street Collection (1995), took more than three years to make. During this time, the band almost disbanded because of the romantic relationship between Stefani and Kanal. Their break-up inspired Stefani lyrically and some of the album's songs, such as "Don't Speak", "Sunday Morning", and "Hey You", chronicled their relationship and her happiness. Five singles were released from Tragic Kingdom and "Don't Speak" led 1996's U.S. year-end airplay chart. The album sold more than fifteen million copies worldwide and received several Grammy Award nominations.
Stefani met then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale in 1995 at a No Doubt concert, and they became involved in a long distance relationship. After the success of Tragic Kingdom, No Doubt released the less popular Return of Saturn (2000) and the critically-mixed Rock Steady (2001), which generated career-highest singles chart positions in the United States, and "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All" received Grammy Awards. A greatest hits collection, The Singles 1992-2003 (2003), which includes a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", was released to moderate sales. The other members of No Doubt have begun work on a new album and plan to complete it after Stefani's tour is finished. During her time with No Doubt, the band toured with ska punk band Reel Big Fish, whose frontman, Aaron Barrett, later penned the song "She's Famous Now" for Reel Big Fish's 1998 album Why Do They Rock So Hard?. The song commonly interpreted to be about a relationship between the two and Stefani's subsequent success with No Doubt; however, Barrett later stated that he "was just trying to start a rumor".
Outside No Doubt, Stefani has collaborated on the singles "South Side" and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Moby and Eve respectively. In 2002 Eve and Stefani won a "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".
Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released in November 2004 across the world. 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.
Stefani has created a successful fashion line, named L.A.M.B., which showcases clothing that she is often seen wearing herself (it also features handbags and purses). 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. In the fall of 2006, Gwen Stefani released a limited edition line of dolls called "Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Fashion dolls". They were inspired by her multi-platinum album and tour and each doll will reflect Gwen's eclectic onstage incarnations. Ranging from her Hollaback Girl to the fashion-forward Harajuku Girls of Tokyo, the dolls in this high-end line will reflect the distinctive style and personality which have made Gwen Stefani an icon. She also designed and promoted a Harajuku girl-themed camera for Hewlett-Packard. Stefani made her acting debut playing Jean Harlow in the 2004 Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator and made a cameo appearance in the film Zoolander. 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.
In 2002, Stefani wed guitarist Gavin Rossdale. Stefani had two weddings; one in the UK and the other in the U.S. In December 2005, Stefani and Rossdale announced that they were expecting their first child together. The pregnancy was revealed during a concert in Fort Lauderdale, United States. 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 commented 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, their son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, was born via caesarean section at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Kingston weighed 3.4 kilograms (7 pounds, 5 ounces).
