October 3rd, 2006 - Happy Birthday Gwen Stefani!

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Gwen Stefani (born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, fashion designer, actress, and is the frontwoman of the pop/ska/rock band No Doubt. She first experienced mainstream success with the release of No Doubt's 1995 album Tragic Kingdom, which shipped over 10 million copies in the US and spawned the hit singles "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak."

She's 37!

In 2004, Stefani wrote and recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. The album contained pop music and dance tracks, and included hip hop and R&B-influences. Its third single "Hollaback Girl" became the first U.S. digital single to exceed sales of one million.

Stefani is currently working on a second solo album due for release in late 2006. She married Bush front man Gavin Rossdale in 2002 and gave birth to her son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, in 2006.

Gwen Stefani was born in Fullerton, California, but grew up in Anaheim. Her father, Dennis Stefani, is Italian American, and her mother Patti Flynn is of Irish and Scottish descent. She has a sister, Jill, and two brothers, Eric and Todd. Jill appeared in No Doubt's "Just a Girl" music video. Gwen attended California State University, Fullerton, and Loara High School (class of 1987), where she was on the swim team. Her first job was scrubbing floors at a Dairy Queen, and she once worked at the makeup counter of a department store. Her brother Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt, but eventually left the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons. Other members of the group include Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Stefani had a 7 year relationship with the band's bassist Tony Kanal. The relationship was kept a secret from the band for a while. Unfortunately, Stefani already had the image of marriage in mind, which scared Tony, and eventually they broke it off. Through this difficult time, Stefani went through a period of depression and began to write her own songs. Thus, the birth of their third album Tragic Kingdom. Most of the CD is written about Tony through her time of heartbreak, eventually resulting in one of their most successful CDs. Stefani's breakthrough came in 1995.

A Bit of Trivia:

• In No Doubt's early days Gwen was romantically linked to every member of Orange County's The Vandals.
• Although Stefani's natural hair color is brown and she has previously colored it blue and pink, she is known for her famously bleached platinum blonde hair and bright red lipstick.
• Stefani has the honor of being the only person to win in the Best Male Video and Best Female Video categories at the MTV Video Music Awards, and in the same year. In 2001, Moby won Best Male video for "South Side", which Stefani was featured in, and Eve won Best Female video for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", which also featured Stefani.
• Stefani has said that the part of her body she values most is her feet.
• Stefani has been quoted as saying: "I think I've been able to fool a lot of people because I know I'm a dork. I'm a geek."
• Stefani has been quoted as saying that she and Madonna share a common Italian relative. Stefani claimed that her great aunt married a man from Detroit, Michigan (the area of Michigan that Madonna is from) with the last name "Ciccone."
• The name of her debut solo album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby. shares the name with her clothing line, L.A.M.B. (L. for Love, A. for Angel, M. for Music, B. for Baby)
• No Doubt bassist (and former boyfriend) Tony Kanal donated an X-Ray of his broken finger as an image for L.A.M.B T-shirts.

Other October 3rd Birthdays:

Chubby Checker-Singer (65)
Roy Horn-Magician (62)
Lindsey Buckingham-Singer/Fleetwood Mac (57)
Jack Wagner-Actor (47)
Tommy Lee-Drummer/Supernova (44)
Keiko Agena-Actress/Gilmore Girls (33)
Neve Campbell-Actress/Scream (33)
Seann William Scott-Actor/Dukes of Hazzard (30)
Ashlee Simpson-Singer/sort of (22)