| In 1987, No Doubt was officially formed in Anehiem, California. Eric Stefani, Gwen's older brother, a band with his friend John Spence who would be the lead singer. Eric had the song writing ability but not the voice so he dragged his younger sister Gwen off from infront of the TV watching the Brady Bunch and threw a microphone in her hand to do back up vocals. |
| Devestated over John's suicide, the band calls it quits. They reform days later knowing that is what John would have wanted. Eric convinces Gwen to become the lead singer, envisioning the a world renowned Gwen Stefani and pop icon. |
| Soon after in 1989 Adrian Young joined the band. He had seen an advertisement at his school that said they were looking for a drummer so he went to check it out. Adrian had been to many of their concerts in the moshpit and was familiar with their music. He initially told the band he had played the drums for 7 years when he had really only played for one but he had skill none the less. |
| Tony and Gwen dated during the first 7 years that No Doubt was together. They hid it from the rest of the band, afraid that it would create tension and interfere with the music. When they did come out with this, the other members weren't happy. If Gwen and Tony were to ever break up, it could easily mean the end of the band. |
| In 1991 No Doubt signed a recording contract with Interscope Records. They all still had day jobs (Gwen and Tony worked as sales people in the same department store, Adrian was a waiter at a steak house, and Tom ran a small music equipment rental business) so they had little time to spend recording. When they could, they drove out to LA to record for their debut album which was realased in 1992, only selling 30,000 copies. They then toured for two weeks and soon a two and a half month national tour. |
| They almost immediatly started writing music for their Tragic Kingdom album. It took over two and a half years to write without the confidence of their record label. Just before it was released, Eric decided to leave No Doubt to work at an animation job for The Simpsons. Eric enjoyed writing music but wasn't comfortable with the idea of a record lable going through the music and changing stuff he had created so he knew he'd be happier in animation. |
| With the loss of Eric also came the drama of the end of Tony and Gwen's seven year relationship. They each had different ideas of where the relationship was going, which brought about its end. This break up has influence that can be seen in many of Tragic Kingdom's songs, specifically "Don't Speak". |
| Long before they perfected Tragic Kingdom, they released their second album, the Beacon Street Collection which was named after the street that many of the members lived on. |
| In 1995 No Doubt headlined on the Warped Tour. October 1995 Tragic Kingdom was finally released. They toured with 311 at the beginning of it but were soon on their own. The band debuted on Billboard's Top 200 at #175. The single "Just a Girl" reached #10 and soon after "Spiderwebs" reached #5. They began touring in Europe and Tragic Kingdom went Platinum and was double Platinum in August. "Don't Speak" eventually reached #1 on the charts, a spot it held for four months! |
| They played for small family gatherings and other social events. Their first official gig was at Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach California. They were the second band to perform out of 14 with The Untouchables headlining. Tony Kanal saw them perform here and later joined the band as the bassist. Tony became the band's manager as an organized perfectionist. Gwen kisses Tony at an Orange County party but they keep their relationship a secret. They were all still in school and holding down jobs, but John kept them practicing every day during vacations - he had many dreams of what the band could do. Their music was heavily Ska (a popular music of the Jamaican origin that combines elements of traditional Caribbean rythems and jazz) influenced and quite a spectacle to see with the lead singer John well knwon for his back flips while Gwen was more of his sidekick |
| During their 1987 Christmas break, they were offered to play for many peopl in the record business at the Roxy in Hollywood, this was to be their big break. On the evening of December 21, 1987 - only 6 days before their performance, John drove his car into an abandoned parking lot where he wrote out a long letter to his friends and family shortly before comitting suicide that night. he had a love for music and always seemed so happy that no one ever suspected it. |
| In 1988, Tom Dumont, a heavey-metal guitarist and college music student, leaves his sister's heavy metal band because the metal scene in Orange County sucked. He joined the ska-heavy band and added a heavier edge. |
| Sit back and get ready to be schooled in some kickin info on how No Doubt came to be. |
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| John Spence |
| Tom Dumont |
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| Tony and Gwen date |
| Adrian Young |
| Having their fivesome complete, they expanded their sound to include the style of each member. Opening shows for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ziggy Marley and Mano Negra brought on good publicity, increased their popularity and broadening their fan base. |
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| Tony Kanal |
| The five members. Eric Stefani in the back left |
| A Got Milk add from way back when Adrian still had the devil horns. |
| No Doubt History |
| Tony and Gwen break up, she's inspired to write "Don't Speak" |
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