Who is Gwen Renée Stefani?
The world knows her as Gwen Stefani, she is an
American recording artist and fashion designer. Stefani serves as lead vocalist for the rock band No Doubt. Formed with influences ranging from punk rock to new wave music, their third wave ska oriented third studio album Tragic Kingdom (1995) propelled them to stardom, selling 16 million copies worldwide. It spawned the singles "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak". The band's popularity went into decline with its fourth album, Return of Saturn (2000), but Rock Steady (2001) focused on dancehall production traits, and generally received positive reviews.
Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was primarily inspired by music of the 1980s,[3] and emerged an international success with sales of over seven million.[4] The album's third single "Hollaback Girl" became the first U.S. digital download to sell one million copies.[5] Stefani's second solo album The Sweet Escape (2006) yielded "Wind It Up", a moderate worldwide success, and "The Sweet Escape".[6] Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.[7] She won the World's Best-Selling New Female Artist at the World Music Awards 2005.
Stefani is known as a fashion trendsetter.[8] In 2003, she debuted her clothing line L.A.M.B. and expanded her collection with the 2005 Harajuku Lovers line, drawing inspiration from Japanese culture and fashion. Stefani performs and makes public appearances with four back-up dancers known as the Harajuku Girls. She married British grunge musician Gavin Rossdale in 2002 and they have two sons: Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, who was born May 26, 2006, and Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale, who was born August 21, 2008.
Stefani was born October 3, 1969 and raised in Fullerton, California,[9] and grew up in a Roman Catholic household.[10] Her mother named her after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from The Four Tops' 1968 cover of The Left Banke's 1966 hit song "Walk Away Renée".[11] Her father, Dennis Stefani, is Italian and works as a Yamaha marketing executive.[12] Her mother, Patti (née Flynn), is of Irish and Scottish descent and worked as an accountant before becoming a homemaker.[13][14] Her parents were fans of folk music and presented music by Bob Dylan
and
Emmylou Harris 
to their daughter.[10] She is the second oldest of four children; she has a younger sister, Jill Stefani, a younger brother, Todd, and an older brother, Eric.[10][13] Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt but left the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.[9]
Many of the women in Stefani's family were seamstresses, and much of her clothing was made by her or her mother. As a child, Stefani's musical interests consisted of musicals such as The Sound of Music and Evita. After making a demo tape for her father, she was encouraged to take music lessons to train her "loopy, unpredictable" voice. Stefani is a distant cousin of Madonna. Her great-aunt's mother-in-law shares the last name with Madonna.[10]
Stefani made her onstage debut during a talent show at Loara High School, where she sang "I Have Confidence," from The Sound of Music, in a self-made tweed dress inspired by one from the film.[1][4] Stefani was on the Loara swim team in an attempt to lose weight.[15] She first worked at a Dairy Queen and later manning the MAC makeup counter of a department store.[16] After graduating from high school in 1987,[1] she began attending California State University, Fullerton.[17]
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.[9] Finally, in 1991, the band was signed to Interscope Records. She also did backup vocals for Sublime on the song "Saw Red".
The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, but its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of grunge.[18] Stefani rejected the aggressiveness of female grunge artists and cited Blondie
singer Debbie Harry's
combination of power and sex appeal as a major influence.[19] No Doubt's third album, Tragic Kingdom
(1995), which followed the self-released The Beacon Street Collection (1995),
took more than three years to make. During this time, the band almost split up because of the failed romantic relationship between Stefani and bandmate Tony Kanal.[20] Their break-up inspired Stefani lyrically, and many of the album's songs, such as "Don't Speak",
The world knows her as Gwen Stefani, she is an 
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