Gwen Stefani's Biography

In December 1986 John Spence formed No Doubt and keyboardist Eric Stefani persuaded his sister, Gwen, to sing backing vocals, having already got Gwen to sing lead vocals on his first song, "Stick It In The Hole" about a pencil sharpener.

After John Spence's suicide in December 1987, Gwen Stefani took over lead vocals. She also began a relationship with bassist Tony Kanal, that would last seven years.

No Doubt played two-tone covers and originals of Eric's songs and they released an album in 1992 which did not sell well.

In 1994 Eric Stefani left to pursue a career as an animator and over the next couple of years No Doubt released The Beacon Street Collection and Tragic Kingdom, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide, and features tracks like "Don't Speak" (in which Gwen Stefani reflects on her failed romance with Kanal, who 'needed space') and "Just a Girl".

It would not be until 2000 that The Return of Saturn would be released. During the intervening years Gwen Stefani remained in the media spotlight, either because of her changing hairstyles or because of her romance with Bush singer, Gavin Rossdale, whom she married in September 2002.

In 2001 No Doubt released Rock Steady which included the hit single, 'Hey Baby'.

At the end of 2004 Gwen Stefani released her debut solo album Love Angel Music Baby, which is also the name of her clothing collection (L.A.M.B.).

Tony Kanal donated an X-Ray of his broken finger as an image for L.A.M.B T-shirts.

The single 'What You Waiting For?' earned Stefani a Brit Awards nomination for best international female and a Grammy nomination.

Love, Angel, Music, Baby has an eighties flavour and includes collaborations with Andre 3000, Dr. Dre and Eve, the Neptunes, Dallas Austin and Linda Perry.

Gwen Stefani made her film debut as Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.

In May 2005 Gwen Stefani came 25th in Harpers & Queen's list of the 100 most beautiful women.

Gwen Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale had a son in May 2006, whom they named Kingston James McGregor Rossdale.

In August 2008 they had a second son, named Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale.

In October 2006 Gwen Stefani told Ryan Seacrest about her single Wind It Up which includes a sample of "The Lonely Goatherd": "It was a dream of mine to put The Sound of Music to a beat, because it's my favorite movie."

Gwen Stefani came tenth in Glamour's list of best dressed women.

In March 2011, Gwen Stefani donated $1M to Save the Children's Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund.

In 2014, she became a coach on the US version of The Voice.

In October 2015, Stefani and Gavin Rossdale got divorced.

She was later romantically linked to Blake Shelton. They were both coaches on The Voice in the US. Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton got engaged in 2020.