About The Artist
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California that formed in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album, No Doubt (1992), failed to make waves. The band's diamond-certified album Tragic Kingdom helped to launch the ska revival of the 1990s, and "Don't Speak", the third single from the album, set a record when it spent sixteen weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart.
Following this the group released its next album, Return of Saturn, four years later. While a minor success commercially it could not match the success of their previous album and underperformed both commercially and critically. Fifteen months later, the band reappeared with Rock Steady, which incorporated reggae and dancehall music into their work. The album was primarily recorded in Jamaica and featured collaborations with Jamaican artists Bounty Killer, Sly and Robbie, and Lady Saw. The album produced two Grammy-winning singles, "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All".
No Doubt released the compilation The Singles 1992–2003 and box set Boom Box in 2003, both of which contained a cover version of the Talk Talk synthpop song "It's My Life". Frontwoman Gwen Stefani launched her solo career the next year with several collaborations, including bandmate Tony Kanal as well as Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes, while guitarist Tom Dumont began his side project, Invincible Overlord. During its career, the band has won two Grammy Awards and sold 28 million records worldwide to date. The band embarked on a US national tour throughout the summer of 2009.
Beginnings (1986–1995)
Eric Stefani and his sister Gwen formed a band called Apple Core in 1986. Eric taught himself to play accordion and played for the band with Gwen singing back up.
About a year later Eric met John Spence at a Dairy Queen and had talked about getting a group together to play music. Eric got a keyboard and gathered some players together to practice. The practice included Eric Stefani (keyboards), Gwen Stefani (vocals), John Spence (Vocals), Jerry McMahon (Guitar), Chris Leal (Bass) and Gabe Gonzalas (Trumpet), Alan and Tony Meade. They practiced in Eric's parents' garage.
Tony Kanal went to one of the band's early shows and soon joined the band as its bassist. After initially rejecting her advances, he began dating Gwen, but they kept their relationship secret for a year, feeling that it was an unspoken rule that nobody date her.
In December 1987, Spence committed suicide several days before the band was to play a gig at The Roxy Theatre for record industry employees. No Doubt disbanded but decided to regroup after several weeks with Alan Meade taking over vocals. When Meade left the band, Gwen replaced him as lead singer, and No Doubt continued to develop a live following in California. In early 1988, Tom Dumont left Rising, a heavy metal band of which he was a member with his sister, stating that local metal bands "were into drinking, wearing Spandex" but that he wanted to focus on music. He joined No Doubt and replaced Jerry McMahon as the band's guitarist, adding a distinct metal influence to its sound. Adrian Young replaced Chris Webb as the drummer the following year.
Impressed by the presence of rabid, stage diving fans at No Doubt's concerts and Gwen's mesmerizing on-stage presence, Tony Ferguson signed the band to a multi-album deal with the newly created Interscope Records in 1990. No Doubt's self-titled debut album was finally released in 1992, but it featured no radio singles, although a video was made for "Trapped in a Box." The album's distinctly upbeat ska/pop/cartoon sound sharply contrasted with the then-dominant grunge movement. Because the music world's focus was redirected squarely at Seattle, No Doubt's album was not supported by the record label and considered a commercial failure for selling only 30,000 copies. The band embarked on a national tour in support of the album, though Interscope refused to support the tour. The band failed to bring the audiences that it had attracted in Southern California, and often found that No Doubt was not even available in the cities where it was playing. Eric Stefani began to withdraw from the group, vacillating between being in and out of the band.
The band began work on its next album the next year, but Interscope rejected much of its material, and the band was paired with producer Matthew Wilder. Eric did not like to relinquish creative control to someone outside the band and eventually stopped recording and rehearsing. He left No Doubt in 1994 to resume an animation career with the cartoon TV series The Simpsons. Kanal then ended his seven-year relationship with Gwen, saying that he needed "space." Unsure of what to do with the band, Interscope sublicensed the project to Trauma Records in 1995. No Doubt released The Beacon Street Collection, consisting of outtakes from its previous recording sessions, that year on its own label, Beacon Street Records. Mixing 1980s punk rock and some grunge influences into the band's sound, the album contains a rawer sound than No Doubt, and it sold more than three times as many copies as its predecessor. Later that year, the label released Tragic Kingdom, much of which dealt with the relationship between Tony Kanal and Gwen Stefani.
Mainstream success (1995–2000)
Before the release of the video "Just a Girl" on MTV and other outlets the band performed shows in Disneyland for Grad Night in 1995 where they put on a remarkable showing. Gwen would wear the same outfit as in the Tragic Kingdom CD cover. The release of 1995's Tragic Kingdom and the single "Just a Girl" allowed the group to achieve mainstream commercial success. No Doubt began touring in support of the album late that year, and it grew into a 27-month international tour. In 1996, the second single, "Spiderwebs", was successful, and "Don't Speak", a ballad written about Stefani and Kanal's break-up,[citation needed] was released as the third single and broke the previous record when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay for sixteen weeks. No Doubt was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album at the 1997 Grammy Awards. By the end of the year, half of the songs on Tragic Kingdom had been released as singles, and the album was certified eight times platinum. Later, they were nominated for two more Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, both for "Don't Speak". The Recording Industry Association of America certified the album diamond in February 1999, and with worldwide sales of sixteen million, it is one of the best-selling albums in history. The band's self-titled debut album began selling copies again off of the success of Tragic Kingdom and reached total sales of over a quarter of a million copies.
The album's release fueled a dispute between Trauma and Interscope Records over No Doubt's recording contract. Trauma sued for US$100 million for breach of contract, fraud, and extortion and sought to have its joint venture agreement ended, claiming that Interscope had reneged on its contract after the band had become more successful than expected. No Doubt had previously stated that it had switched to Trauma Records and that the transition was "really great...because now we have the attention and the focus of a small indie label." The case was settled out of court with a $3 million payment.
The band finished its tour in December 1997 and had several releases during the two-year writing process to make its follow-up to Tragic Kingdom. Live in the Tragic Kingdom, a live long-form video of the band's performance at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, was released and The Beacon Street Collection was re-released while the band was on tour that year. The band recorded "I Throw My Toys Around" with Elvis Costello for The Rugrats Movie, and it contributed to The Clash's tribute album Burning London: The Clash Tribute. Stefani began to make recordings without the band, contributing vocals to tracks for The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Prince, Fishbone & Familyhood Nextperience, and her boyfriend Gavin Rossdale's band Bush. After some time in-between albums, No Doubt included its song "New" on the soundtrack to the movie Go in 1999. "New", inspired by Gwen's budding relationship with Rossdale, was one of the first songs written after the release of Tragic Kingdom.
Later albums (2000-2004)
In 2000, the band released Return of Saturn, its follow-up to Tragic Kingdom. The album featured a darker tone and was more lyrically advanced than No Doubt's previous work. The main lyrical focus of the new record had shifted from Gwen Stefani's relationship with bassist Tony Kanal to her new relationship with Gavin Rossdale. Return of Saturn was critically acclaimed, but was not as commercially successful as their previous album, and the lead single, "Ex-Girlfriend", failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Also released as singles from the album were the tracks "Simple Kind of Life" and "Bathwater".