Gwen Stefani: Snapshot
- Name
- Gwen Stefani
- Date of Birth
- October 03, 1969
- Birth Place
- Anaheim, Calif.
In 2004, Stefani went solo and made waves with over-the-top fashions and an ever-present entourage of harajuku girls. Additionally, the multi-tasking performer appeared in The Aviator and created the retail line L.A.M.B. In 2002, the pop icon married former Bush singer Gavin Rossdale, with whom she has two sons, Kingston and Zuma.
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Gwen Stefani: Video
Red Carpet Look Book
This singer never disappoints with her daring sense of style and retro-glamour looks
Gwen Stefani: Five Fun Facts
- Gwen Stefani has experimented with her hair to the point that she told PEOPLE, "I haven't seen my real hair color since ninth grade!"
- Gwen Stefani grew up listening to Julie Andrews belt out "I Have Confidence" from the 1965 movie musical The Sound of Music. The upbeat tune inspired the first single off her sophomore album The Sweet Escape.
- Easily identified by her fire-engine-red lips, Gwen Stefani has said, "I don't wear lipstick" when traveling incognito.
- Raised a Catholic, Gwen Stefani carried rosary beads and her grandmother's Catholic prayer book at her Anglican wedding to Gavin Rossdale in 2002.
- As a teen, Gwen Stefani experimented with style by sewing her own clothing. "Everyone knew not to walk in my room without shoes on 'cause of the pins," she told PEOPLE.
Gwen Stefani: Biography 
- 1986
Just a Girl
Artsy high school senior Stefani dreams of being a homemaker like her mother, but when older brother Eric forms a band, No Doubt, with fellow Dairy Queen workers, she agrees to join as second vocalist. In December 1987, the band's lead singer, John Spence, takes his own life at age 18. At her brother's urging, Stefani takes over lead vocals. "All I wanted to ever do was get married and have babies, have a house," she tells the Washington Post a decade later. "So it's weird that I'm in a rock group."
- 1993
Hanging in There
Stefani's seven-year relationship with No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal ends and the band is on the brink of breakup, but Stefani keeps them on track by throwing herself into songwriting to work through her pain. The result is Tragic Kingdom.
- 1995
Kingdom Reigns Charts
No Doubt releases Tragic Kingdom after Interscope gives the band a second shot on its Trauma label. The disc becomes No Doubt's most successful album, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide and spending nine weeks at the No. 1 position on the Billboard Top 200 chart, spurred on by hit singles "Don't Speak," "Spiderwebs" and "Just a Girl." The videos feature frenetic performances by Stefani, decked out in platinum-blonde hair, belly-baring midriff shirts and her most striking feature, vermilion lips. She is featured on several magazine covers.
Photo Credits
Top Left: Lorenzo Agius/Getty
BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Classmates Yearbook Archives; catuffe/sipa
