Gwen Stefani (born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer, actress, and television personality. She is a co-founder and the lead vocalist of the band No Doubt that experienced major success after their breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom (1995). During the band’s hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was met with both critical and commercial success. It spawned three commercially successful singles, with “Hollaback Girl” reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first U.S. download to sell one million copies. Her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), became her first solo album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Stefani has won three Grammy Awards. Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. (More from Wikipedia)
Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider worked with No Doubt on one of my favorite albums of the early 2000’s, Return of Saturn; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic notes: “No Doubt’s desire to expand the emotional template of new wave is the perfect match for [Gwen] Stefani’s themes – she may be writing about love, but she’s not writing adolescent love songs. Fragments of her teenaged romantic fantasies remain, but she’s writing as a woman in her late 20’s. She’s tired of being another ‘ex-girlfriend’ – she wants to fall in love, get married, and have a family. It’s a subject that’s surprisingly uncommon in pop music, which would alone make Return of Saturn an interesting album. What makes it a successful one is that the band delivers an aural equivalent of Stefani’s lyrical themes. . . . Surprisingly, they pull it off – it’s a far stronger record than Tragic Kingdom, even if the catchiest numbers don’t have the same swagger and punch as their previous hit singles. So be it. With Return of Saturn, No Doubt have made a terrific, layered record that exceeds any expectations set by Tragic Kingdom. Not only have they found their voice, they know what to do with it.”
(April 2015/2)
