Livin' in an extraordinary world...

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If you're curious about Stefani's lyrics, most of them were written based on her real life experiences. My songs are basically my diaries.

Some of my best songwriting has come out of time when I've been going through a personal nightmare, said the 37-year-old.
Born Gwendolyn Renee Stefani in Fullerton, Orange County, California, she was raised with her sister Jill and brothers Eric and Todd in nearby Anaheim by her parents Dennis, an Italian-American, and Patti Flynn, who's got Irish-Scottish blood. Her early years were deeply influenced by music, especially that of ska and punk.

Stefani attended Loara High School where she was part of the marching band and swim team, and graduated in 1987. In between, she did odd jobs to make extra cash, like scrubbing the floors of Dairy Queen and manning the make-up counter of a department store.
Around the same time, her brother Eric formed the band No Doubt with a friend named John Spence and asked her to contribute her vocals whenever she was needed as a back-up.

When Tony Kanal joined the group, the trio was formed and they started doing local gigs in their quest for popularity.

com/images/2007/Faces/01/1-1.jpg align=right hspace=10>Stefani moved up to become lead vocalist when Spence committed suicide. In 1989, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young joined to complete the outfit, as guitarist and drummer respectively.

By this time, Stefani had enrolled in the California State University at Fullerton and was romantically involved with her band mate Kanal--a relationship that was kept a secret from the band at first, but lasted for a whole eight years!
Juggling her studies, relationship and the band wasn't all smooth sailing, but her positive attitude towards everything seemed to make it all work! I really don't care what people say.

It doesn't discourage me from doing something that I set my heart out to do, she shared.
No Doubt's live performances were always full of adrenaline and thumping vibes that it didn't take them long to score a fan base. And thanks to a demo that they recorded in 1990, the band quickly landed a contract with Interscope Records.

Two years and many, many studio hours later, the band released their self-titled debut album. Unfortunately, it was far from a chart-topping, record-breaking success, and their label was starting to lose interest.
But Stefani wasn't keen on the idea of disbanding, so the band went back into the studio to record extra songs for their sophomore effort called The Beacon Street Collection with their own funding.

Loyal fans bought the album and the promising sales won back the trust of their record label, now very keen to support the band's next album.
Eric left the band to become an animator for The Simpsons before No Doubt released their breakthrough album, 1995's The Tragic Kingdom. It bore hits like the ever-famous Don't Speak (a song that chronicled the break-up between Stefani and Kanal), Just A Girl (a song that promoted girl power and was also featured in the chick flick Clueless), Spiderwebs and Sunday Morning.

With the simple lyrics, catchy tunes and colourful video support, Tragic Kingdom shot to No. 1 on the Billboard charts and scored the band two Grammy nominations! As the band's popularity spread overnight, it wasn't surprising that the album went on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide!

In the years that followed, No Doubt continued to enjoy the success of Tragic Kingdom and toured the world to meet all their fans. I think everyone is gifted with talents. If you're successful at it, it feels very good but it never penetrates completely.

There are moments where I think that we made an amazing record and I'm so proud of it, but I don't wake up and go, Wow, I'm amazing! , you know?, she said.

By then, Stefani was seeing the frontman of rock band Bush, Gavin Rossdale, whom she met at one of her band's concerts. Five years on, No Doubt released The Return of Saturn, which did alright, and Rock Steady in 2001, an explosive album that gave us hits like Hey Baby and Hella Good. Like icing to the cake, the band finally picked up two Grammys for Hey Baby and Underneath It All.

I've been making an effort not to think about the future. I'm lucky to not have a real job , to be able to express myself and be creative, Stefani said.

sinchew-i.com/images/2007/Faces/01/1-3.jpg align=left hspace=10>No Doubt aside, other musicians were starting to take note of Stefani's quirky vocals.

Singer Moby asked her to collaborate on his single South Side, and rapper Eve asked her to join in on Let Me Blow Your Mind, which clinched them Best Rap Collaboration at the 2002 Grammys!
Not content with the buzz, Stefani branched out to acting and appeared in several films and on TV, including in Zoolander and Dawson's Creek. Her biggest role came in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004, where she played the role of Jean Harlow.

I'd like to stress that I only have a small role, she said. But who am I kidding? There are no small roles in a Scorsese film!

For me, acting comes from the same place as music. I just have to perform. I wanted to get it right and I did.

Sometimes you just have to go for it. Apart from those few, she has also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Saturday Night Live.
In the midst of her busy lifestyle, Stefani tied the knot to Rossdale on September 14, 2002--arriving an hour late at her London wedding, wearing a John Galliano-designed dress.

Now that is what you'd call being fashionably late! No Doubt released their best of compilation called The Singles 1992-2003, after which the band decided to take a break to pursue each of their interests. Not surprisingly, Stefani stepped onto the shores of fashion, being the icon that she already was.

As one of the top choices in the most fashionable, most beautiful and sexiest books in the world, she brought fashion to life with her eclectic style, turning even the most horrid of outfits into something chic!
Of Clothes, Make-up And More
In 2003 she jumpstarted her fashion career with the debut of L.A.

M.B, her clothing and accessories line. Funky jackets, embellished jeans, petticoats and the sort are just some of the more dominant wear in her line, with big stars like Halle Berry, Carmen Electra, Paris Hilton and sister Nicky spotted with some of the goodies!

As the lady who could pull off midriff-bearing tops with just about anything plus her distinct make-up, she continued to create blazing trails in fashion runways, even until today.
I've always played with Barbies and I'm still doing it, she said cheekily. It's very greedy because at the end of the day, I'm just making clothes that I want to wear!

So how would she describe her style? It's fancy mixed with casual and definitely a big contradiction! she laughed.

It's always been my personality to be kind of masculine and feminine, mixing glam with baggy pants and tennis shoes. Contrast is what L.A.

M.B's all about!
At the recent New York Fashion Week where she revealed her spring 2007 collection, a wild mix was apparent, as always!

Kimonos, animal prints, plaids and more, well, that's what we expected! On the beauty side, Stefani has always been experimenting with make-up that at times, we tend to forget how gorgeous she really is, even without the layers of powder and red lipstick. She exudes a paradox of her own persona--sometime baby girl, sometime lady.

Her hair is another thing altogether! One day you'll see bright pink locks screaming at you, another day it's platinum blond on the red carpet. Whichever colour it is today, we still salute her for being so bold, so different, so Gwen!

jpg align=right hspace=10>After the release of Rock Steady, Stefani asked Kanal to help her out in producing a solo project that would be a collection of more pop-rock than ska that No Doubt became synonymous for. As her project morphed into something bigger, her music ideas evolved over time and the tunes became more dance-oriented. Top-notch musicians like Linda Perry, Dr.

Dre, Andre 3000 and The Neptunes were roped in, and in September 2004, Stefani's first solo single What You Waiting For? appeared on MTV. Two months down the line, her album Love.

Angel.Music.Baby.

was released.
The infectious Rich Girl (feat. Eve) followed suit, and third single Hollaback Girl became Stefani's first American and second Australian No.

1 hit! The same single also became the first digital download to sell over one million copies legally. Her 4th single Cool wasn't met with as much hype, but it shot to No.

1 in Canada! And if that success wasn't enough, going solo garnered Stefani a total of 6 Grammy nominations over 2005-06!
Stefani once said, I don't know what I'm going to do, but I've always wanted to do the family thing.

At a certain point I'm going to want to have a family. I can always write songs, but I can't always wear an Alice-In-Wonderland costume.
On May 26, 2006, she gave birth to her first child at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, a baby boy whom she named Kingston James McGregor Rossdale.

According to the new mom, having a child has changed her in many ways. You know what's amazing is how he just comes to me and hangs out and rolls around with me. I'm shocked!

I was like, How am I going to make this work? And it works out just perfect!, she said ecstatically.

She has even designed a line of baby wear for him, which may even expand to something massive in the future! As of her current projects, Stefani shared that she'll be moving into luxury handbags. She said, We've done handbags before and at that time, it was amazing.

But now I want to graduate to doing something that's a little bit more luxurious!
What's more, she has signed a deal with Coty Inc. to produce her own fragrance line, to be released under L.

A.M.B.

late this year. Creating a fragrance is one of the most prestigious things a designer can do. For me, it's like another thing you can wear and something else I can be part of, creatively.

I'm creating it for myself--so it's like me shrunk into a box! she said excitedly.

sinchew-i.com/images/2007/Faces/01/1-5.jpg align=left hspace=10>Stefani's second solo album The Sweet Escape has just been released.

In line with that, she'll be kicking off her American tour come April 21 in Phoenix, set to end on June 22 in Irvine, California. As for The Sweet Escape World Tour 2007 that will take her to South America, Australia, Asia and Europe--those are just waiting to be confirmed.
Stefani has mentioned that 4 In The Morning is her favourite track on the album, though Wind It Up was selected as the first single.

When Stefani first released her solo album, she introduced the Harajuku Girls , her entourage of four flamboyantly-dressed dancers. Now gone blond, they are still kicking and will be part of the singer's worldwide tour!
Stefani has also launched her second fashion line Harajuku Lovers, inspired by the colourful and mismatched Japanese Street Fashion.

With family, music, movies and design keeping her at her toes, we wonder how much more can this superwoman take.
An example of my day would be going to Italy to shoot a video and squeeze in a meeting about a jewellery range that ends up taking five hours! Then I sort out clothes and make-up for the video, which takes a couple of hours, before we start shooting.

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and that again takes another five hours! Then I start to cry because I'm supposed to be on holiday, she said.
But then again, I'm so lucky to have all these opportunities.

The one thing that makes me feel super lucky about my success is that I have a housekeeper. That's what keeps me grounded. Every day, I have these pinch-me moments, so I'm not complaining about anything!

she concluded. For the woman who can pull off just about anything, she's now dividing time between Anaheim and London, trying to be the best mom and the best in everything else that life has thrown into her life!
Be a part of Stefani's The Sweet Escape, in stores now!

- When Stefani's mother was pregnant, she was reading the best-selling 1968 novel Airport. She loved the name of a stewardess called Gwendolyn so much that she decided to call her baby just that when she was born on October 3, 1969! As for her middle name Ren e e, well, it was inspired by the song Walk Away Ren e e!

- Stefani shares her birthday with Ashlee Simpson and Tommy Lee!
- She loves musicals, especially The Sound of Music (1965) and Annie (1982)!
- She is a distant cousin of Madonna.

See the resemblance now?