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When Was No Doubt Formed? Exploring 9 Interesting Facts About Gwen Stefani's Band Amid Coachella 2024 Reunion
The band, No Doubt, consisting of Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Dumont, and Young, has sold over 33 million albums and won numerous awards. Despite not releasing new music or touring, fans hope for a future reunion.
No Doubt, a Grammy-winning American ska band, began as a garage band in Orange County in 1986. They gained mainstream success with their third album Tragic Kingdom in 1995. The band, consisting of lead vocalist Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont, and drummer Adrian Young, has sold over 33 million albums worldwide and won numerous awards. Their chart-topping hits include Don't Speak, Hey Baby, Underneath It All, and I'm Just a Girl. Although they haven't released new music or toured, fans hope for another reunion in the future.
Here are 9 interesting facts about the band.
1. Gwen Stefani wasn’t apart of the original line up for No Doubt
The band was formed by John Spence, who was the original vocalist. He was also the one who came up with the name No Doubt. However, a year after the band formed, he committed suicide. After his death, Alan Meade took over his lead vocalist duties, but when Meade quit, Stefani stepped up to the plate.
2. They've worked with Prince
During the peak of their success, No Doubt gained recognition from mega-star Prince. He ended up flying the band to Paisley Park to play on one of his songs, but when they got there, Tony Kanal said Stefani was the only one who was ushered into the studio. The rest of the band members had to sit outside. Prince made it up to them by producing the band’s song Waiting Room. The song was intended for the 1999 album Return of Saturn, but ended up on the 2001 album, Rock Steady.
3. The band almost broke up
The band almost broke up before releasing their most successful album, Tragic Kingdom, due to long production delays. Some members, including Eric Carpenter and Gwen's older brother, left due to dissatisfaction with the final product. In an interview in 1996, Stefani said they almost gave up about a year and a half ago, considering ending their eight-year career. However, the record was deemed good, despite being a dork band from Anaheim. Despite several other instances of almost-breakup, the band managed to stay together for 15 years.
4. There were tension between the members
As the band gained more recognition, the male members started to get a little agitated that Stefani continuously got all the recognition. There was one particular incident when Spin magazine cropped out the three male members of the band so that Stefani alone was on the cover and, when the media geared all of their questions toward Gwen or asked her to be interviewed alone, it caused a lot of problems behind the curtain.
5. Warped Tour
No Doubt was one of the first bands to play in the summer festival known as Warped Tour. The tour was created in 1995, which is when No Doubt took the stage, but it wasn’t until 1996 that Vans stepped in as the primary sponsor of the tour giving it more publicity and recognition. In 1995 many of the bands were eclectic alternative bands like Sublime, the Deftones, Face to Face and Quicksand. In 2000, No Doubt played in the festival again, but by this time they had reached mainstream success.
6. Video Game ventures
The ska band got involved with a few video game ventures lending their music and voices to characters. In 2009 they joined forces with Band Hero, but ended up filing a lawsuit action against Activision Publishing Inc. for fraud, violation of publicity rights and breach of contract. The game was supposed to allow players to perform the artists songs using avatars, but the band members weren’t happy and claimed the game turned them into a “virtual karaoke circus act” by allowing Stefani’s character to sing suggestive lyrics and Tony Kanal to sing in Stefani’s voice.
7. The band has a slow success
No Doubt's first show took place at Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, with a six-month practice period. The band had a talented trumpet and bass player, but they quit before the show due to a lack of readiness. Signed to a multi-album deal with Interscope Records in 1990, their debut album was released in 1992, but it was largely unsuccessful, selling only 30,000 copies. The band went on a national tour but Interscope refused to financially support them, and they failed to draw an audience. This is around the time that Gwen's brother Eric withdrew from the band.
8. Tragic Kingdom
Tragic Kingdom, the band's first album, was a result of their heartbreak after their breakup. The album, written by Gwen and her brother Eric, featured songs like Don't Speak, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks and earned the group two Grammy nominations for Song of the Year. The album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and is considered one of the best-selling albums in history. The band had to relive their separation through each performance, as they had to fight hard to keep the band together.
9. Gwen Stefani's brother persuaded her to join the band
No Doubt started out as a simple garage band. Gwen Stefani’s brother Eric Stefani met former bandmate John Spence while working at Dairy Queen in the mid ’80s. The two of them talked about making music together and John eventually convinced Eric to buy a keyboard and start a band with some friends from high school.
In the beginning the band consisted of eight members: Eric Stefani, Chris Webb, Chris Leal, Jery McMahon, John Spence, Gabriel Gonzalez, Alan and Tony Meade, but later Eric’s little sister Gwen joined the group. Her older brother Eric was the one who persuaded her to join as a back-up vocalist in the late ’80s when she was only 17. She never wanted to be a singer until Eric pushed her to stand up on stage with him and sing at a school talent show.
ALSO READ: Coachella 2024: How to Stream Sets Online? Livestream Details & More to Know
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