Gwen Renée Stefani was born in California. She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from the Four Tops 1968 version of the Left Banke’s 1966 song “Walk Away Renee”. Her brother Eric introduced Gwen to 2 Tone music by Madness and the Selecter and, in 1986, he invited her to provide vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was forming. Sadly, its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of grunge.
No Doubt’s third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), took more than three years to make. Five singles were released from Tragic Kingdom, including “Don’t Speak”, which led the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997. Stefani left college for one semester to tour for Tragic Kingdom but did not return when touring lasted two and a half years. The album was nominated for a Grammy and sold more than 16 million copies worldwide by 2004. In late 2000, Rolling Stone magazine named her “the Queen of Confessional Pop”.
The album 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, which includes a cover of Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life”, was released in 2003. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for BEst Rap/Sung Cllaboration for “Let Me Blow Ya Mind”.
tefani’s debut solo album Love Angel Music Baby was released in November 2004. The album features several collaborations with producers and other artists. Stefani created the album to modernize the music to which she listened when in high school, and L.A.M.B. takes influence from a variety of music styles of the 1980s and early 1990s such as new wave, synthpop, and electro. Stefani’s decision to use her solo career as an opportunity to delve further into pop music instead of trying “to convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth” was considered unusual. The album was described as “fun as hell but … not exactly rife with subversive social commentary”. The album debuted on the US Billboard albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in its first week. L.A.M.B. reached multi-platinum status in the United States, the UK, Australia, and Canada.
he first single from the album was “What You Waiting For?”, which debuted atop the ARIA Singles Chart, charted at number 47 on the US Billboard and reached the top ten on most other charts. The song served to explain why Stefani produced a solo album and discusses her fears in leaving No Doubt for a solo career as well as her desire to have a baby.
“Rich Girl” was released as the album’s second single. A duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre, it is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British musicians Louchie Lou & Michie One, which itself is a very loose cover lyrically but closer melodically of “If I Were a Rich Man”, from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. “Rich Girl” reached the US and UK top ten. The album’s third single “Hollaback Girl” became Stefani’s first US and second Australian number-one single; it reached top ten elsewhere.
Stefani’s second studio album, The Sweet Escape, was released in December 2006. The album focuses more heavily on electronic and dance music for clubs than its predecessor. Its release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani’s first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. Sia Michel wrote that it “has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel … but Stefani isn’t convincing as a dissatisfied diva”.
“Wind It Up”, the album’s lead single, used yodelling and an interpolation of the Sound of Music, and peaked in the top 10 in the US and the UK. The title track reached the top 10 in over 15 nations, including number two peaks in the US, Australia and the UK. To promote The Sweet Escape, Stefani was a mentor on the 6th season of American Idol and performed the song with Akon. The song earned her a Grammy Award nomination.
In December 2020, Stefani released “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” as the lead single from upcoming fifth studio album. She followed this with a second single “Slow Clap” in March 2021, which received a remix featuring Saweetie the following month. Stefani also teased other new music through her Instagram account, announcing she recorded two new tracks titled “When Loving Gets Old” and “Cry Happy”.
