Gwen Stefani Biography
Gwen Stefani is an American singer and songwriter. She gained popularity in the 1990s as the lead singer for the rock-ska band No Doubt before starting a solo career.
Gwen Stefani Career
Gwen was first exposed to 2 Tone music by Madness and The Selecter by her brother Eric. In 1986, he asked her to sing lead vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was starting. The group signed a record deal with Interscope Records in 1991. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1992, but grunge’s popularity made the ska-pop sound of the album unpopular. Prior to No Doubt and Sublime becoming widely popular, Stefani was a guest vocalist on “Saw Red” from Sublime’s 1994 album Robbin’ the Hood. The aggressiveness of female grunge musicians was rejected by Stefani, who credited Blondie singer Debbie Harry’s blend of sex appeal and power as a major influence.
It took more than three years to complete No Doubt’s third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), which came out after the self-released The Beacon Street Collection (1995). Tragic Kingdom released five singles. “Don’t Speak” peaked at number one on the 1997 Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart. Stefani took a semester off from college to tour with Tragic Kingdom, but she never came back for the two-and-a-half years that the tour lasted. By 2004, the album had sold over 16 million copies worldwide and received a Grammy nomination. Rolling Stone magazine dubbed her “the Queen of Confessional Pop” towards the end of 2000.
Stefani co-wrote the songs “You’re the Boss” with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, “South Side” with Moby, and “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” with Eve when No Doubt was enjoying widespread success. In 2000, No Doubt expanded on the Tragic Kingdom’s new wave influences with the release of the less well-known Return of Saturn. The majority of the lyrics dealt with Stefani’s insecurities, such as her hesitation to settle down and start a family, and her frequently tumultuous relationship with then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale. While keeping their new wave influences, the band explored more reggae and dancehall sounds on their 2001 album Rock Steady.
In the United States, the album produced career-high singles chart positions, and “Hey Baby” and “Underneath It All” were recognized with Grammy Awards. In 2003, the greatest hits compilation The Singles 1992–2003 was released, featuring a cover of “It’s My Life” by Talk Talk. Eve and Stefani’s song “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2002. Love. Angel. Music. Baby., Stefani’s debut solo album, was released on November 12, 2004. Numerous producers and musicians, including Tony Kanal, Tom Rothrock, Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, the Neptunes, and New Order, collaborated on the album.
The goal of Stefani’s album was to update the music she had listened to in high school. L.A.M.B. draws inspiration from new wave, synthpop, and electro, among other genres that were popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was thought odd that Stefani chose to pursue her pop music career instead of “convincing the world of [her] talent, depth, and artistic worth” during her solo career. “Fun as hell but… not exactly rife with subversive social commentary” was how one reviewer put it. After selling 309,000 copies in its first week, the album debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200 albums chart.
In the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, M.B. achieved multi-platinum status. “What You Waiting For?” was the album’s lead single, and it peaked at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart, reached the top ten on most other charts, and peaked at number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song talked about Stefani’s fears of going solo after leaving No Doubt and her wish to start a family, as well as why she decided to make a solo album. “Rich Girl” was made available as the second single off the album.
Produced by Dr. Dre, the song is a duet featuring rapper Eve and is based on a pop song from the 1990s by British artists Louchie Lou & Michie One. The song is a very loose, lyrically loose, but melodically closer version of “If I Were a Rich Man” from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. In the US and UK, “Rich Girl” made it to the top ten. Third single from the album “Hollaback Girl” went on to become Stefani’s first number-one single in the US and second in Australia; it peaked at number ten in other countries. With its brass-driven composition, the song became the first US music download to sell over a million copies, and it remained popular throughout 2005. Soon after the success of the previous single, “Cool,” the fourth was released and made it to the top 20 in both the US and the UK.
The song’s lyrics and the music video that goes with it, which was shot on Lake Como, portray Stefani’s previous romance with Kanal. Although it was the album’s fifth single, “Luxurious” did not fare as well as its earlier releases. Instead of Love, “Crash” was the sixth single from the album to be released in January 2006. Stefani delayed the follow-up to Angel. Music. Baby. due to her pregnancy. Stefani expressed interest in appearing in movies in 2004 and started going to auditions for movies like Mr. & Mrs. Smith. In 2004 she starred as Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese’s film The Aviator. After seeing Stefani’s image from a Marilyn Monroe-inspired 2003 Teen Vogue photoshoot, Scorsese, whose daughter loved No Doubt, expressed a mutual interest in casting her.
Stefani watched eighteen of Harlow’s films and read two biographies in preparation for the part. Stefani’s part took four or five days to shoot, and she had very few lines. The 2004 video game Malice featured Stefani’s voice as its voice actress, but the band No Doubt decided not to use the band members’ voices. The Sweet Escape, Stefani’s second studio album, was made available on December 1, 2006. Stefani went on to collaborate with Akon, Tim Rice-Oxley of the English rock group Keane, and Kanal, Perry, and the Neptunes. Compared to its predecessor, the album places a greater emphasis on dance and electronic music intended for clubs. The DVD version of Stefani’s debut tour, titled Harajuku Lovers Live, was released concurrently with its release.
Using yodeling and an interpolation of The Sound of Music, “Wind It Up” was the album’s lead single and reached the top 10 in both the US and the UK. The lead single peaked at number two in the US, Australia, and the UK, and made it into the top 10 in more than 15 countries. Stefani performed the song with Akon and served as a mentor on the sixth season of American Idol in order to promote The Sweet Escape. She was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for the song. Three additional singles from the album were made available: “Early Winter,” “Now That You Got It,” featuring Damian Marley, and “4 in the Morning.”
Stefani started The Sweet Escape Tour, a global tour that took her through parts of Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific to promote the album. In a June 6, 2011, interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stefani said she did not intend to carry on performing as a solo artist. No Doubt started working on a new album without Stefani while she was promoting The Sweet Escape, with the intention of finishing it after Stefani’s Sweet Escape Tour concluded. The band began posting updates on the album’s development on their official fan forum in March 2008. On March 28, 2008, Stefani posted that she was expecting her second child at the time, which was why she was writing songs slowly.
On December 9, 2008, The Singles 1992–2003 for Rock Band 2 became downloadable. The drummer on Scott Weiland’s “Happy” album in Galoshes was Adrian Young. Fall Out Boy and No Doubt were the main acts at the Bamboozle 2009 festival in May 2009. Midway through 2009, the band wrapped up a national tour. The first single “Settle Down” was released on July 16 and the new album Push and Shove on September 25. Sophie Muller directed the music video for “Settle Down”; she has directed multiple music videos for No Doubt in the past. During this same period, No Doubt appeared as a guest mentor on the UK season of The X-Factor.
The album peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200, and “Settle Down” peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band removed their “Looking Hot” music video from the Internet on November 3, 2012, in response to criticism that it was disrespectful to Native Americans. For the third season of Portlandia, No Doubt made a brief appearance in a hot air balloon in January 2013. In an unexpected appearance on April 12, 2014, Stefani performed “Hollaback Girl” on stage with Pharrell Williams during his set at the Coachella music festival. Stefani’s official confirmation to become a coach for The Voice’s seventh season, taking Christina Aguilera’s place, was made official on April 29.
She went to the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards nine years after the last time. Stefani is featured on the Sia-cowritten song “My Heart Is Open” by Maroon 5, which is off the band’s album V. The song premiered at the 2015 Grammy Awards featuring Adam Levine and an orchestra. Calvin Harris and Stefani also worked together on the song “Together” from his album Motion. During New York Fashion Week on September 8, 2014, Stefani revealed to MTV News that she was collaborating with Williams on a solo album in addition to a No Doubt album.
Stefani, who co-wrote the song “Baby Don’t Lie” with producers Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, and Noel Zancanella, released it as her comeback single on October 20, 2014. Billboard revealed that she would be working with executive producer Benny Blanco on her third studio album, which was scheduled for release in December. The new song “Spark the Fire” from Stefani’s third album was released in late October. Pharrell Williams produced the song. The song’s full online premiere occurred on November 23. Stefani eventually decided not to include “Baby Don’t Lie” and “Spark the Fire” on her third album. Williams and Stefani also recorded a song called “Shine” for the Paddington soundtrack on January 13, 2015.
Sia collaborated with Stefani on a ballad titled “Start a War,” which was supposed to appear on Stefani’s third studio album as well. However, it was left off the final version. American rapper Eminem included Stefani in his song “Kings Never Die” from the soundtrack of the movie Southpaw on July 10, 2015. The track matched first-week digital download sales of 35,000 copies and debuted and peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. As part of her MasterCard Priceless Surprises tour, Stefani played a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on October 17, 2015. During the show, she debuted a new song called “Used to Love You,” which was inspired by her breakup with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale.
On October 20, 2015, it became available for download. That same day, the video was made available. On October 27, 2015, the song was premiered on American contemporary hit radio. The song is the first official single from her third solo album, which she started recording in the middle of 2015. Her album is titled This Is What the Truth Feels Like. According to Stefani, a lot of the earlier work she completed in 2014 felt hurried and unnatural, which was the opposite of what she had intended. “Make Me Like You,” the second single from the album, was made available on February 12, 2016.
Stefani achieved her first number-one album on the U.S. chart as a solo artist with her March 18, 2016 release of This Is What the Truth Feels Like, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 84,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week of release. Stefani set out on her This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour in the US with rapper Eve in order to further promote the album. In the November 4, 2016 release of the animated film Trolls, Stefani provided the voice of DJ Suki. Five songs from the official soundtrack of the movie feature her as well.
Before the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre closed on October 29 and 30 owing to The Irvine Company’s refusal to renew the venue’s land lease, Stefani gave two performances as part of the “Final Shows” there. For the July 2017 release of the documentary series The Defiant Ones, Stefani was interviewed. She declared that she would release new music by the end of the year in the same month. The singer may be working on a holiday album, based on a number of song titles from her sessions that were posted on GEMA’s official website in August. Blake Shelton, Justin Tranter, and Busbee were listed as Stefani’s songwriters on the tracks that were leaked.
On October 6, 2017, the album You Make It Feel Like Christmas became available. The lead single, “The Title Track,” which features Shelton on guest vocals, came out digitally on September 22, 2017. On December 12, 2017, Stefani hosted the NBC Christmas television special Gwen Stefani’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas to promote the album. On June 27, 2018, Stefani launched her first concert residency at the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas, under the name Just a Girl: Las Vegas. It was supposed to end on May 16, 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused the last eight episodes to be rescheduled.
The program ran until November 6, 2021. It took its name from the song “Just a Girl” by No Doubt. The show’s proceeds, which cost $1 per ticket, were given to Cure4Kids. In October 2018, You Make It Feel Like Christmas saw its deluxe edition released. The song “Secret Santa” served as a promotional tool. Stefani gave a performance at Fundidora Park’s Machaca Fest on June 22, 2019. After Adam Levine left The Voice after 16 seasons, Stefani took over as a coach for the 17th season. For the 18th season, Stefani was replaced by a new coach Nick Jonas. In place of Jonas, she made a comeback for her fifth season on The Voice’s 19th season.
After her fifth try, her finalist Carter Rubin was declared the winner, making her the first coach to win after Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson, as well as the ninth coach overall. It was revealed in November 2020, during the final episodes of the 19th season, that Jonas would rejoin Stefani as a judge for the 20th season. In May 2022 Stefani rejoined the coaching staff for the 22nd season, taking Ariana Grande’s place. It was revealed in October 2022 that Stefani would leave the panel for the 23rd season once more.
It was revealed in May 2023 that Stefani would be Kelly Clarkson’s replacement on The Voice for the 24th season. For the 25th season, Stefani left the panel once more, and Dan + Shay took her place. Stefani was featured on Shelton’s song “Nobody but You” from his compilation album Fully Loaded: God’s Country on December 13, 2019. On the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100, the song peaked at number 18 and 49, respectively. Stefani and Shelton followed up with the release of “Happy Anywhere” on July 24, 2020, a song that was inspired by the COVID-19 outbreak. She was originally supposed to play at the 2020 Lollapalooza festival, but the pandemic forced a postponement. Stefani did not take part in the four-day livestream of Lollapalooza that took place in July and August of 2020.
A Mark Ronson remix of Dua Lipa’s “Physical” can be found on Lipa’s 2020 remix album Club Future Nostalgia, and Stefani appears on it as well. Mr. Fingers’ remix of Lipa’s “Hallucinate” originally approached Stefani to clear a “Hollaback Girl” sample. Later, Stefani was asked to participate in the “Physical” remix. Stefani recorded a version of “Sleigh Ride” and released it as a single to promote the 2020 reissue of You Make It Feel Like Christmas. Released on December 7, 2020, “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” is Stefani’s comeback single. On March 11, 2021, she released her second single, “Slow Clap,” which was remixed the next month with Saweetie.
Using her Instagram account, Stefani revealed she had recorded two new songs, “When Loving Gets Old” and “Cry Happy,” and she also hinted at some more new music. Shenseea and she were featured artists on Sean Paul’s song “Light My Fire” in 2022, and she also made an appearance in the music video for the song. She revealed her first new solo single in more than two years in June 2023; “True Babe” was released on June 23. Blake Shelton and Stefani released their most recent duet, “Purple Irises,” on February 9, 2024.
Gwen Stefani Age
Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, United States. She is 54 years old as of 2023 and she celebrates her birthday on the 3rd of October every year.
Gwen Stefani Height and Weight
Stefani stands at a height of 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) and weighs 56 Kg (123 lbs).
Gwen Stefani Family
Stefani was raised Catholic in neighboring Anaheim, California, after being born in Fullerton, California, on October 3, 1969. She was named for a stewardess in the 1968 book Airport, and the Four Tops’ 1968 rendition of the Left Banke song “Walk Away Renée” inspired her middle name. Italian-American Dennis Stefani, her father, was a marketing executive for Yamaha. Patti Flynn, her Irish-American mother, was an accountant before she decided to stay at home with her children. Stefani was introduced to the music of Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris by her parents, who were folk music enthusiasts. Stefani has an older brother named Eric and two younger siblings named Jill and Todd. Before departing the band to focus on his career in animation on The Simpsons, Eric was No Doubt’s keyboard player.
Gwen Stefani Husband and Children | Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton
Shortly after Tony Kanal joined the band, Stefani started dating him. When Kanal broke up with her, the band was on the verge of disbanding. Many of Tragic Kingdom’s songs, including “Don’t Speak,” “Sunday Morning,” and “Hey You!”, chronicle the ups and downs of their relationship. Stefani was inspired lyrically by their breakup. Regarding their friendship, Stefani co-wrote the song “Cool” for her 2004 solo debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. When No Doubt and Bush played a holiday concert for radio station KROQ in 1995, Stefani got to know Bush’s lead singer and guitarist, Gavin Rossdale.
On September 14, 2002, they tied the knot at London’s St. Paul’s, Covent Garden. Two weeks later, a second wedding took place in Los Angeles. Three sons, born on May 26, 2006, August 21, 2008, and February 28, 2014, are Stefani’s children with Rossdale. Stefani filed for divorce from Rossdale on August 3, 2015, citing “irreconcilable differences”. On April 8, 2016, their divorce was officially finalized, with Rossdale consenting to a “unequal split” of their assets. In November 2015, Stefani revealed her relationship with country music artist and co-star of The Voice Blake Shelton. Since dating, Stefani and Shelton have frequently worked together on music.
The song “Go Ahead and Break My Heart” was co-written by the musicians in 2015 while they were figuring out how to start their relationship. Shelton’s 2016 album “If I’m Honest” included the duet. The duets “Happy Anywhere” and “Nobody But You” by them both peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard US Country Airplay chart in 2020. Additionally, they worked together on the song “You Make It Feel Like Christmas,” which can be found on Stefani’s eponymous holiday album from 2017. On October 27, 2020, the couple revealed their engagement, and on July 3, 2021, they were married at Shelton’s Oklahoma ranch in a chapel. In 2020, Stefani received a dyslexia diagnosis.
Gwen Stefani Salary
According to CinemaBlend, Stefani started working as a voice coach in season 7 and was compensated $10 million per season. But after she and Shelton agreed to play up their romance for the cameras, the No Doubt singer got a $5 raise in season 12, making her salary $13 million a season.
Gwen Stefani Net Worth
Stefani has an estimated net worth of about $160 Million which he has earned through his career as a singer and songwriter.
Gwen Stefani Pregnant
Stefani has not disclosed information about whether or not she is pregnant. However, an update of this information will be made when available.
Gwen Stefani Songs
- Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)
- The Sweet Escape (2006)
- This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016)
- You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017)
- No Doubt (1992)
- The Beacon Street Collection (1995)
- Tragic Kingdom (1995)
- Return of Saturn (2000)
- Rock Steady (2001)
- Push and Shove (2012)
Gwen Stefani Movies and TV Shows
- Saturday Night Live (1996–2016)
- King of the Hill (2001)
- Zoolander (2001)
- Dawson’s Creek (2002)
- Malice (2004)
- The Aviator (2004)
- Fashion Rocks (2005)
- Brain Fart (2005)
- Gossip Girl (2009)
- Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (2011)
- Portlandia (2013)
- The Voice (2014–2023)
- Through the Eyes of Faith (2015)
- Trolls (2016)
- The Defiant Ones (2017)
Gwen Stefani Social Media Platform
Stefani is very active on his Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages. She has 2.6M followers on Twitter 17.6M followers on Instagram, and 10M followers on Facebook.