Celebrity Galore

Gwen Renée Stefani (born October 3, 1969) is an American recording artist and fashion designer. Stefani fronts the rock band No Doubt

whose 1995 album Tragic Kingdom 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, 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. Stefani’s second solo album The Sweet Escape (2006) yielded “Wind It Up”, a moderate worldwide success, and “The Sweet Escape”. Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. She won the World’s Best-Selling New Female Artist at the World Music Awards 2005.Stefani is known as a fashion trendsetter. 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; 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 and raised in Fullerton, California, and grew up in a Roman Catholic household. 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”. Her father, Dennis Stefani, is Italian and works as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother, Patti (née Flynn), is of Irish and Scottish descent and worked as an accountant before becoming a homemaker. Her parents were fans of folk music and presented music by Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris to their daughter. She is the second oldest of four children; she has a younger sister, Jill Stefani, a younger brother, Todd, and an older brother, Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt but left the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.

Manager Jim Guerinot said the yet-untitled album is being produced by Mark “Spike” Stent, who helped produce and mix Rock Steady. Between Stefani’s pregnancy and recording, No Doubt did not tour in 2008 but, Guerinot promised, they plan to hit the road hard in 2009 for their first full-fledged band tour in nearly five years.

It has been announced that “The Singles 92-03″ will be available on Dec. 9th for the Rock Band 2 video game platform. All members of No Doubt except for Stefani are appearing as Scott Weiland’s backing band on the upcoming album Happy In Galoshes.

No Doubt announced on their official website that they want to tour in 2009 while finishing their upcoming album, which is set for release late 2009. On November 24, 2008, it was announced that No Doubt would be headlining the Bamboozle 2009 festival in May, along with Fall Out Boy.

The release of Stefani’s first solo album brought attention to her entourage of four Harajuku Girls, named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo, Japan. Stefani treats the back-up dancers, who appear in outfits influenced by Gothic Lolita fashion,] as a figment of her imagination. Stefani’s clothing also took influence from Japanese fashion, in a style described as a combination between Christian Dior and Japan. The dancers are featured in her music videos, press coverage, and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., with a song named for and dedicated to them on the album. They were also featured in, and the namesake for, Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005.

Source [ Wikipedia ]