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Gwen Renée Stefani (born October 3, 1969)
is an American singer and the frontwoman of the ska/rock band No Doubt
who launched a successful solo career in late 2004.
* * * *
Beginnings
Stefani was born in Fullerton, California.
Her father, Denis, is Italian and her mother Patti is of English and
Scottish descent. She has a sister, Jill, and two brothers, Eric and
Todd. She attended Cal State Fullerton, and at Loara High School (class
of 1987), 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 founded No Doubt in 1986 with his friend John Spence, but
eventually left the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
He was the keyboardist for No Doubt. Stefani became the group's lead
singer after original frontman John Spence committed suicide in December
1987.
First
success
The band's second studio album, 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 on by 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 eight years until he ended the relationship because he needed more
space. She slipped into depression after touring for Tragic Kingdom.
The album also spun off the moderate
successful hits, "Excuse Me Mr." and "Sunday Morning", which were
released as singles fourth and fifth, respectively.
Stefani met Bush guitarist Gavin Rossdale
in 1996 at a concert she was playing with No Doubt. On September 14,
2002, they were married.
Solo career
Stefani duets with Prince on the song "So
Far, So Pleased" from his 1999 album Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic. The
same Prince produced album features rap by Eve of Ruff Ryders, who later
collaborated with her. Stefani's solo efforts found early success in a
pair of popular 2001 duets, the "Southside" remix with techno artist
Moby and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with rapper Eve. In fact, Stefani became
the first artist in history to win both Best Male Video and Best Female
Video awards at the MTV VMAs, for "Southside" (credited as "Moby
featuring Gwen Stefani") and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" (credited as "Eve
featuring Gwen Stefani") respectively, both in 2001.
The first solo single Stefani released was
"What You Waiting For?" It debuted at number one on the Australian
singles chart and at number four on the UK chart, and peaked at number
forty-seven on the U.S. chart, making it a relative American flop for
Stefani. In Canada, it managed to climb to number eleven, but almost
instantly dropped out of the top forty. The song was also only seldom
played on Canadian radio. Even though it didn't perform all that well on
the charts, it was a dance hit, climbing to number nine on the U.S.
dance club play charts. However, the song received little audience on
dance radio, and ultimately did not peak in the top forty.
Stefani's debut solo album, Love. Angel.
Music. Baby., was released in the U.S. on November 23, 2004. It managed
to sell more copies in its first week than any No Doubt album (350,000),
debuting at number seven, impressive for a debut solo artist. (Although
her previous status is what most likely debuted it at such a high
number.) Her album was certified platinum (1,000,000 copies sold) after
only four weeks of sales.
The second single, "Rich Girl", another
duet with Eve, was produced by Dr. Dre. It is partly a cover of the song
"If I Was A Rich Man" from the musical Fiddler on the Roof, written by
Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. It shot its way into the Billboard Hot
100, peaking at number seven, and number three on the Pop 100. It was
also featured on a Pepsi commercial, starting on Super Bowl Sunday,
2005. The music video lived up to its name, featuring Stefani and Eve
dancing on a pirate ship, where young Asian girls determined the outcome
of their adventure.
Love.Angel.Music.Baby.'s third single, "Hollaback
Girl", was released in April of 2005 and became one of the fastest
rising songs of the year. In only its sixth week, it hit number one on
the Billboard Hot 100, making Stefani the first white, non-urban or
non-American Idol artist to reach the top spot since Nickelback in
2001/2002 with their hit, "How You Remind Me". The song held this
position for one month, until a ballad by Mariah Carey, "We Belong
Together", knocked it off the top spot. It subsequently remained in the
top three for another month. In Australia, "Hollaback Girl" debuted at
number one, where it hailed for one week, just selling over 5,000
copies.
When the song was released in the UK, it
debuted at number eight. The following week, it duplicated the same
position, confusing many. Due to its large audience in North America,
critics assumed that it was a sure-fire number one. Then, in its third
week, it fell to number eleven, unable to climb to a higher peak.
Despite not being as successful as predicted, it did manage to sell in
excess of 50,000 copies, illustrating that Stefani wasn't going to be
halted so easily. "Hollaback Girl" also helped Love.Angel.Music.Baby.
climb to a new peak of four in the UK, now going on to achieve a gold
certification.
In May 2005, while "Hollaback Girl" was
enjoying its success, speculation about the next single from
Love.Angel.Music.Baby. grew intensely. At first, it was rumoured that
"Bubble Pop Electric", an urban-influenced track about a classic 1980s
date was going to be the next single. At the end of the month, "Cool", a
happy-go-lucky pop song about a disastrous relationship that didn't
result so horribly, was rumoured to be the next single. As no other song
on the album was being thrown into the mix, it was evident that it was
going to be one of the two songs. Finally, on June 16, 2005, "Cool"
debuted on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart at number forty-four, putting
a rest to the ongoing rumours.
"Cool" premiered on TRL on June 30, 2005.
The video, filmed in Lake Como, Italy, sees Gwen playing homage to her
Italian heritage as well as blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and
Madonna.
It also debuted in Canada at number
thirty-five.
Harajuku
The release of her solo album has also
brought attention to Stefani's entourage of four Harajuku girls. Named
Love, Angel, Music, and Baby respectively 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 their namesake area, Stefani's harajuku girls are
usually flamboyantly dressed (sometimes in a somewhat "Gothic Lolita"
style), and they have been featured in her music videos, press coverage,
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 has drawn criticism from some quarters;
for example, Mihi Ahn at Salon.com writes: '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'.
[Added by PSP: It has been announced in
December 2005 that Gwen Stefani is pregnant with her first child with
British rocker Gavin Rossdale. She gave birth in May 2006 to a son
named Kingston]
Certification
-
"What You Waiting For?"
is certified platinum.
-
"Rich Girl" is certified
double platinum.
-
"Hollaback Girl" is
certified platinum.
-
Love.Angel.Music.Baby. is
certified 5x platinum worldwide.
Unreleased
tracks and alternative titles
-
"Parental Advisory":
produced by Rich Harrison who worked on Beyoncé Knowles' "Crazy in
Love". The song pokes fun at dancers with moves better suited for
strip clubs than dance clubs.
-
"Wonderful Life for Him":
written with Linda Perry. Stefani first abandoned this song as it
was very personal to her; six months later she rediscovered it and
decided to record it. The song is about a boy whom Stefani dated in
high school and who had recently died.
-
"You Started It": written
with Pharrell Williams.
-
"Fine by You": written
with Linda Perry. The song is about not being inspired. It was one
of the first songs written for the album. It is also known as "Just
Fine".
-
"Can't Stop the Music"
and "Criminal" are two songs that were written with Linda Perry. On
the ASCAP website they are listed as being on hold. ASCAP
-
"Bubble Pop Electric" is
also known as "Drive in Movie" and "Bubble Pop Electric/Drive in
Movie". ASCAP
-
"Harajuku Girls" is also
registered as "Harajuka Girls" on the ASCAP website. ASCAP
-
"Hollaback Girl" is
registered twice — once with writing credits going to Stefani and
Pharrell Williams, the second with the credits that appear on the
album. ASCAP
-
"What You Waiting For" is
also registered as "What Ya Waiting For". ASCAP
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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, Paris Hilton,
Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, Nicole Richie, Jenny McCarthy,
Alicia Keys and Halle Berry have been seen sporting her fashion line
and LeSportsac bags.
-
Stefani's nicknames are
Sunshine and G-loc.
-
Her height is 1.68 metres
(5'6").
-
She is dyslexic.
-
Stefani's favourite bands
include 311, Blur, Radiohead 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.
-
Girls and young women who
imitate Stefani's distinctive style of dress are sometimes referred
to as "Gwennabes" or "Gwenabees".
-
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 Fullertown Museum Centre in Orange County, United States.
Speculation circulates that the dress might have been sold.
-
Stefani's eyes are dark
brown and her natural hair colour is brown, though she has coloured
it blue and pink before. Her trademarks include her famously
platinum blonde hair and her red lipstick.
-
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."
* * * *
The
above biography has been copied in part or in whole
from an article on
Wikipedia.org
"The Free Encyclopedia." It has been modified under
the NGU Free Document License Section 5 in the
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GNU Free Document License.
URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_Stefani
Date Article Copied:
July 12, 2005
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|
Tracks |
1. Intro 0:25
2. Hella Good 4:02
3. Hey Baby (feat. Bounty Killer) 3:27
4. Making Out 4:14
5. Underneath It All (feat. Lady Saw) 5:02
6. Detective 2:53
7. Don't Let Me Down 4:09
8. Start the Fire 4:08
9. Running 4:01
10. In My Head 3:25
11. Platinum Blonde Life 3:27
12. Waiting Room (feat. Prince) 4:27
13. Rock Steady 5:21 |
1. Intro 0:25
2. Hella Good 4:02
3. Hey Baby (feat. Bounty Killer) 3:27
4. Making Out 4:14
5. Underneath It All (feat. Lady Saw) 5:02
6. Detective 2:53
7. Don't Let Me Down 4:09
8. Start the Fire 4:08
9. Running 4:01
10. In My Head 3:25
11. Platinum Blonde Life 3:27
12. Waiting Room (feat. Prince) 4:27
13. Rock Steady 5:21 |
1. Intro 0:25
2. Hella Good 4:02
3. Hey Baby (feat. Bounty Killer) 3:27
4. Making Out 4:14
5. Underneath It All (feat. Lady Saw) 5:02
6. Detective 2:53
7. Don't Let Me Down 4:09
8. Start the Fire 4:08
9. Running 4:01
10. In My Head 3:25
11. Platinum Blonde Life 3:27
12. Waiting Room (feat. Prince) 4:27
13. Rock Steady 5:21 |
Bonus disc
1. Hey Baby (Stank Remix) (Dirty Version)
4:10
2. Hey Baby (The Homeboy Mix by Fabian)
3:50
3. Hella Good (Roger's Release Yourself
Mix) 7:16
4. Ex-Girlfriend (The Psycho Ex Mix by
Philip Steir) 5:12
5. Hey Baby (Video)
6. Hella Good (Video)
7. Underneath It All
(Video) |
1. Just A Girl 3:26
2. It's My Life 3:46
3. Hey Baby 3:27
4. Bathwater 4:00
5. Sunday Morning 4:31
6. Hella Good 4:02
7. New 4:24
8. Underneath It All 5:02
9. Excuse Me Mr. 3:05
10. Running 4:01
11. Spiderwebs 4:27
12. Simple Kind Of Life 4:16
13. Don't Speak 4:23
14. Ex-Girlfriend 3:31
15. Trapped In A Box 3:24
16. Girls Get The Bass In The Dark (Bonus
Track) 6:14 |
