No
Doubt is an American rock band
from Anaheim,
California
, founded 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.
The group released its next album,
Return of Saturn, four years later,
but despite positive reviews, the album was considered a commercial
failure. 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
Neptune Pharrell Williams, while guitarist
Tom Dumont began his side project,
Invincible Overlord. During its
career, the band has won two Grammy Awards and sold 27 million
records worldwide to date. The band has recently embarked on
a national tour throughout the
summer of 2009.
History
Beginnings (1986–1995)
Eric Stefani, and Eric's sister
Gwen formed a band called Apple Core in
1986, having worked together at a local
Dairy Queen. Eric, who had taught himself to
play accordion 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. They planned to play live at Fenders
Ballroom, a 500 person standing room venue in Long Beach CA, but
Chris and Gabe didn't show up to practice.
Tony Kanal went to one of these 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, while 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, Sea Creature
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, red dress. 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, 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)

Gwen Stefani, Stephen Bradley, and
Tony Kanal performing in March 2002.
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".
After
Return of Saturn, the band returned to recording in
January 2001. During this time, it contributed a cover version of
Donna Summer's "
Love to Love You Baby" for the
Zoolander soundtrack and recorded
a song with
Kelis for her album
Wanderland. Stefani made high-profile
appearances on
Moby's "
South Side" and
Eve's "
Let Me
Blow Ya Mind". These appearances lent No Doubt credibility and
an opportunity to explore new genres.
Highly influenced by
Jamaican
dancehall music and
recorded primarily in Jamaica, the band's 2001 studio album,
Rock Steady, produced
two hit Grammy-winning singles, "Hey Baby", which featured Bounty Killer, and "Underneath It All", which featured the
first lady of dancehall, Lady Saw.
Both singles managed to reach the top five on the Billboard Hot
100. The album also released "
Hella Good"
and "
Running" as singles. In
addition, pop-star
Prince
co-wrote, produced, and performed on "Waiting Room" from
Rock
Steady. Stefani had previously provided vocals for a song on
Prince's
Rave Un2 the Joy
Fantastic album, "So Far, So Pleased".
In November 2002, No
Doubt made an appearance in the Dawson's Creek
episode "Spiderwebs".
2003 was a big year of releases for No Doubt. The album
The Singles
1992–2003, a compilation of the band's
commercially-released singles, was released on November 25, 2003.
It included a
cover of the song
"
It's My
Life", which had originally been a hit for
synthpop group
Talk Talk
in 1984, and earned No Doubt a Grammy nomination for Pop
Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. Additionally, a special
2-CD 2-
DVD box set titled
Boom Box was made
available, which included the CDs
The Singles 1992–2003
and
Everything in Time
and the DVDs
The Videos
1992–2003 and
Live in the Tragic Kingdom.
Separately,
Rock Steady
Live, a DVD of the band performing in Long Beach from
their Rock Steady tour was released in 2003 as well. The next year,
the band was featured in a
re-recording of the
Toots & the Maytals classic
ska song "
Monkey Man". The
band also toured with
blink-182 in
mid-2004, before embarking on a hiatus.
Hiatus (2004–2008)

Stefani performing on the Harajuku
Lovers Tour 2005.
Lead singer
Gwen Stefani began work on
her 1980s-inspired
New Wave and
dance-pop side project in 2003, which
eventually evolved into the full-fledged solo album,
Love. Angel. Music. Baby., released on November
23, 2004. The album reached multi-platinum status in several
countries, including a quintuple platinum certification in Canada
and triple platinum in the U.S. Stefani launched her first solo
arena tour in October 2005, which coincided with the news of her
pregnancy (her son, Kingston James
McGregor Rossdale, was born on May 26, 2006). She released her
second solo dance-pop album,
The
Sweet Escape in December 2006.
In early 2005,
Tom Dumont released his
own solo music project,
Invincible
Overlord, with friend and collaborator Ted Matson, and backed
up
Matt Costa on his 2005 tour.
Adrian Young, the band's drummer, did the drums
for
Bow Wow Wow's 2004 tour and many of
the tracks on
Unwritten Law's 2005
release,
Here's to the
Mourning, as well as featuring on several shows in 2006
for
TheStart. Young will also be playing on
Rockstar: Supernova
runner-up
Dilana's upcoming album.
Return to music (2008–present)
With Stefani promoting her second solo album, No Doubt began
initial work on a new album without her and planned to complete it
after Stefani's
tour was
finished. In March 2008, the band started making posts concerning
the progression of the album on their official fan forum. Stefani
made a post on March 28, 2008 stating that songwriting had
commenced but was slow on her end because she was, at the time,
pregnant with her second child.
Manager Jim Guerinot said the yet-untitled album is being produced
by Mark "Spike" Stent, who helped produce and mix
Rock
Steady. Between Stefani's pregnancy and recording, No Doubt
did not tour in 2008, but Guerinot promised, they plan to hit the
road hard in 2009 for their first full-fledged band tour in nearly
five years.
No Doubt announced on their official website that they will
tour in the summer of 2009 with
Paramore,
The
Sounds,
Janelle Monáe,
Bedouin Soundclash,
Katy Perry,
Panic!
at the Disco, and
Matt Costa. while
finishing their upcoming album, which is set for release in 2010.
Tickets for the tour went on sale March 7, 2009. As a special
promotion for the tour, the band is giving away their entire music
catalog free as a digital download with purchase of top tier
seating.
In 2009, No Doubt made an appearance on the television series
Gossip Girl,
playing a fictional band called "Snowed Out" in the episode
"
Valley Girls". They
performed their cover version of the
Adam and the Ants song "
Stand and Deliver".
No Doubt
played at the Bridge School
Benefit organized by Neil Young on
October 24 and 25, 2009 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre
in Mountain View, California
. During their performance on the 25th, Gwen
stated, "We're trying to write a new record."
On November 4, 2009, the
Los
Angeles Times reported that No Doubt had filed a lawsuit
over its portrayal in the music video game
Band Hero. The lawsuit alleged that the game
had "transformed No Doubt band members into a virtual karaoke
circus act". The case was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and
cited
Activision, the game's developer,
as having exceeded contractual likenesses of the members of No
Doubt.
Members
Current
Touring members:
- Stephen Bradley –
keyboards, trumpet, backing vocals (1995–2004,
2008–present)
- Gabrial McNair – keyboards,
trombone, backing vocals (1993–2004,
2008–present)
Former
- Eric Carpenter – saxophone (1988–1994)
- Paul Caseley – trombone (1987–1990)
- Gabriel Gonzalez – trumpet (1986–1989)
- Don Hammerstedt – trumpet (1990–1992)
- Alex Henderson – trombone (1991–1993)
- Phil Jordan - trumpet (1992–1995)
- Chris Leal – bass guitar (1986–1987)
- Kevin Wells - trombone (1986–1987)
- Jerry McMahon – guitar (1986–1988)
- Alan Meade – trumpet, co-lead vocals
(1986–1988)
- Tony Meade – saxophone (1986–1988)
- Chris Webb – drums (1986–1989)
- John Spence – original
lead vocals (1986–1987)
- Eric Stefani – keyboards, guitar
(1986–1995)
Discography
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
The
Grammy Awards are awarded annually
by the
National Academy
of Recording Arts and Sciences.
|
|
No Doubt |
Best New Artist |
|
|
Tragic Kingdom |
Best Rock Album |
|
|
|
"Don't Speak" |
Best Pop
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal |
|
|
Song of the
Year |
|
|
2001 |
Return of Saturn |
Best Rock Album |
|
|
|
"Hey Baby" |
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal |
|
|
"Hella Good" |
Best Dance Recording |
|
|
Rock Steady |
Best Pop Vocal Album |
|
|
|
"Underneath It All" |
Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group |
|
|
|
"It's
My Life" |
Best Pop
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal |
MTV Video Music Awards
The MTV Video Music Awards
were established in 1984 by MTV to celebrate the
top music videos of the year.
|
|
|
"Don't Speak" |
Video of
the Year |
|
|
Best
Group Video |
|
|
|
"Hey Baby" |
Best Group Video |
|
|
Best Pop
Video |
|
|
|
"Underneath It All" |
Best Pop Video |
|
|
Best
Cinematography |
|
|
|
"It's My
Life" |
Best Group Video |
|
|
Best Pop Video |
|
|
Best
Direction |
|
|
Best
Art Direction |
|
|
Best Cinematography |
References
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... uh, um, no". The Seattle Times. November 18, 2005.
Retrieved April 14, 2007.
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lawsuit". Variety. May 28, 1997. Retrieved
December 30, 2006.
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2007.
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December 23, 2006.
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2004). Retrieved from Style.com October 28, 2007.
- "No Doubt In Middle Of Legal Battle".
MTV News. May 28,
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10, 1997. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
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2007.
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2005. Retrieved January 6, 2007.
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Music Group. October 3, 2005. Retrieved January 3, 2006.
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Producing Reggae LP, Remixing Gwen". MTV News. May 16, 2005. Retrieved December 30,
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Green Day, Avril Lavigne, Jennifer Lopez, A Perfect Circle &
More". MTV News.
June 30, 2004. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
- "Help us welcome back Adrian!". theSTART official
website. September 5, 2006. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
- "For The Record: Quick News On Mariah, Kid Rock,
'Fantastic Four,' Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Will.I.Am & More".
MTV News. December 22,
2006. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
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Album". MTV News.
May 12, 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
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Billboard.
December 12, 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
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2008.
- "Gwen Stefani Says No Doubt Are In The Studio
'Every Day,' Working On Album Expected In 2009". MTV.com. 2008. Retrieved April 1,
2008.
- "2009 Tour".
NoDoubt.com. 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2008.
-
http://www.nodoubt.com/news/default.aspx?nid=20198&cmnt=1#s_comments_anchor
- http://www.nodoubt.com/news/default.aspx?nid=20581
-
http://www.nodoubt.com/news/default.aspx?nid=20646&cmnt=1#s_comments_anchor
- [1].
-
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1607156/20090317/no_doubt.jhtml
-
[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/11/no-doubt-sues-activision-over-band-hero.html
- http://www.metacritic.com/music/upcomingreleases.shtml
-
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1601343/20081215/no_doubt.jhtml
External links
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