Gwen Stefani

Gwen Renee Stefani was born into a Catholic family with Italian, Scottish and Irish heritage. She grew up with two brothers – Eric and Todd – and her sister Jill. Gwen's elder brother Eric introduced her to the fashionable to the date ska commands and invited to join his own band No Doubt as a back vocalist in 1987. By that moment Gwen had just entered the Californian State University in Fullerton. However, she took the invitation as she was crazy with love in bassist Toni Kanal. She became their lead-soloist after the vocalist John Spence committed suicide. In 1992, the band released the debut work No Doubt on the Interscope studio. As the work proved to be a failure, the label refused from financing their next attempt and the band self-released their second disc The Beacon Street Collection. In 1995, by the moment of release of its third album, titled Tragic Kingdom, the No Doubt was on the brink of dismissing – Eric Stefani joined the animation command of The Simpsons, while Toni finished his romance with Gwen.

In this tragic moment the band became unbelievably successful – such dingles as the dramatic ballad Don't Speak and Sunday Morning made an instant star of No Doubt. Gwen left her study for one semester in order to take part in the Tragic Kingdom support tour. However, she never came back to her studies as tour lasted for more than two years. With the release of Return Of Saturn in 2000, the band's popularity started to decrease. Many texts from this disc tell about Stefani's uneasy relations with rock-band Bush soloist Gavin Rossdale. The next disc Rock Steady, with its sound being broadened by reggae and dancehall, cheered the listeners with such singles as the playful Hey Baby and Underneath It All. Each of these two tracks resulted in a Grammy for the band. The full-length's acknowledgement coincided with one more happy event in Gwen's life – in 2002, she married Rossdale. After Rock Steady the No Doubt musicians decided to make a break, though Gwen wished to try herself in solo career. The artist wanted to record something danceable in the moods of Madonna or Prince.

Initially, Stefani invited only Toni Kanal to collaborate with her over her solo prodigy Love.Angel.Music.Baby. However, by the moment of its release in 2004, Love.Angel.Music.Baby featured the work of many talented artists and producers, including Linda Perry, The Neptunes, Andre 3000 from the Outkast and many others. Musical styles, trendy in 80s and 90s, served as the inspiration for Gwen. The album became multi-platinum on the wave of the hits What You Waiting For?, Rich Girl and Hollaback Girl. Soon after this success Stefani's pregnancy was made public. In May 2006, Gwen gave birth to her son Kingston. She sang for Moby in his track South Side and made a duet titled Let Me Blow Ya Mind with Eve. In 2006, Gwen recorded the album The Sweet Escape, oriented on the club dance music. Her winding track Wind It Up became the lead single from the The Sweet Escape. It was followed by The Sound Of Music and 4 In The Morning. Stefani is also known as the talented clothes and accessories designer. In 2004, she debuted in cinema as well, playing a cameo appearance in The Aviator picture by Martin Scorsese.