Gwen Stefani's Real Name: Gwen Renée Stefani

Quick answer: Gwen Stefani's full name is Gwen Renée Stefani. She was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California. She became famous in the 1990s as the lead singer of the ska-rock band No Doubt, then launched a solo career with Love.Angel.Music.Baby (2004). She has been married to country singer Blake Shelton since 2021 (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Stefani, Gwen, 1969-." One LOC citation gives her name as "Gwen Renée Stefani," and the record also keeps the cross-reference "Stefani, Gwendolyn Renée, 1969-," so searchers will find both forms in library catalogs. Britannica uses Gwen Stefani and gives her birthplace as Fullerton, California.

According to Britannica, Stefani and her brother Eric helped found No Doubt as teenagers in Orange County, California. The band fused ska with new wave-style pop.

Career highlights

No Doubt broke through with its third album, the chart-topping Tragic Kingdom (1995), which included "Just a Girl," "Spiderwebs," and "Don't Speak." As the band's popularity grew, Britannica says, the spotlight fell on Stefani, whose red lips and platinum blonde hair made her instantly identifiable. She branched out with collaborations with rapper Eve and techno artist Moby. No Doubt followed with Return of Saturn (2000) and Rock Steady (2001), which featured the Grammy-winning songs "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All."

During a No Doubt hiatus she released her first solo album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby (2004). She toured with the Harajuku Girls, dancers whose look was inspired by the fashion of Tokyo's Harajuku district. That year she made her film debut as Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. Britannica notes she was increasingly seen as a trendsetter and designed her own clothing line, which is why she is sometimes filed under fashion.

Her second solo album, The Sweet Escape, came out in 2006. She reunited with No Doubt for Push and Shove (2012) and released This Is What the Truth Feels Like in 2016. From 2018 to 2020 she headlined the Las Vegas residency Just a Girl. She was a coach on NBC's The Voice in several seasons beginning in 2014, where she met fellow coach Blake Shelton. They married in 2021.

Stefani was married to Gavin Rossdale, frontman of the British band Bush, from 2002 until their divorce in 2016.

Name notes for searchers

LOC's citation gives Gwen as her first name; Gwendolyn appears only as a library cross-reference. Renée is her middle name. She is sometimes credited as "G. Stefani."