No Doubt

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For other uses, see No Doubt (disambiguation).
No Doubt

No Doubt is a third wave ska band from Anaheim, California, United States. The group was founded in 1986, and the ska-pop sound of its 1992 debut album failed to make waves due to the popularity of the grunge movement at the time. 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, later broken by the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris".

The group released its next album, Return of Saturn, four years later with a dominant New Wave sound, but despite positive reviews, the album was 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 and 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.[1]

History

Beginnings (1986-1995)

In December 1986, lead vocalist John Spence founded No Doubt in Anaheim, California with his friend Eric Stefani on keyboards and Eric's younger sister Gwen as co-vocalist.[2] The band recruited several more members, with an unsteady line-up, and played small gigs around the Orange County area, with Spence's antics carrying its performances. 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, lead vocalist Spence committed suicide several days before the band was to play a gig at The Roxy Theatre for record industry employees. No Doubt disbanded for several weeks, but regrouped with Gwen as lead singer and continued to develop a live following in California. In 1988, Tom Dumont replaced Jerry McMahon as the band's guitarist, adding a heavy metal influence to its sound, and Adrian Young replaced Chris Webb as the drummer the following year.[3]

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Impressed by the presence of stage diving at ska concerts and Gwen's on-stage presence, Tony Ferguson signed the band to the newly created Interscope Records in 1990.[3] No Doubt's self-titled debut album was released in 1992 and featured the single "Trapped in a Box". The album's distinctly pop sound sharply contrasted with the grunge movement, and the album was a commercial failure, selling only 30,000 copies.[4] The band embarked on a national tour in support of the album, though Interscope had lost faith in the band and refused to support the tour.[5] The band failed to bring the audiences that it had attracted in Orange County, and it often found that No Doubt was not available in the cities where it was playing.[3]

The band began work on its next album the next year, but Interscope rejected its material and paired the band with producer Matthew Wilder. Eric did not like to relinquish creative control to someone outside the band and eventually stopped recording or rehearsing. He left No Doubt in 1994 to pursue an animation career on the cartoon TV series The Simpsons.[3] Kanal then ended his seven-year relationship with Gwen, saying that he needed "space".[6] In 1995, the band released The Beacon Street Collection, which had been funded by the band and, when released, renewed faith in the band from the record label. Later that year, the label released Tragic Kingdom, much of which dealt with the relationship between Tony Kanal and Gwen Stefani.[7]

Mainstream success (1995-2004)

The release of 1995's Tragic Kingdom and the New Wave inspired single "Just a Girl" allowed the group to achieve mainstream commercial success. A second single, "Spiderwebs", was also successful, and their third single, "Don't Speak", which was written about the dissolution of Stefani's and bassist Tony Kanal's romantic relationship, was a number one hit for 16 weeks on the Billboard airplay chart. Tragic Kingdom was certified diamond in the United States and is one of the best-selling albums in history.[8] No Doubt was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album (Tragic Kingdom) at the 1997 Grammy Awards. Later, they were nominated for two more Grammies for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, both for "Don't Speak".[9]

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The album's release fueled a dispute between Trauma Records and Trauma's distributor, Interscope Records, over No Doubt's recording contract. Trauma sued for US$100 million for breach of contract, fraud, and extortion.[10] The case was settled out of court with a $3 million payment.[11]

In 1998, Reel Big Fish, another ska punk band, released its album Why Do They Rock So Hard?. The song "She's Famous Now" was commonly interpreted to be about a relationship between Reel Big Fish frontman Aaron Barrett and Gwen Stefani and Stefani's subsequent success with No Doubt;[12] however, Barrett later stated that he "was just trying to start a rumor".[13] Reel Big Fish also did a cover of Morrissey's "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" on their fifth studio album We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy, which is believed to be directed at No Doubt's mainstream success.

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 Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale, was one of the first songs written after the release of Tragic Kingdom.

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.[14] 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.[15] 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".

Gwen Stefani, Stephen Bradley, and Tony Kanal performing in March 2002.

Shaking off the commercial failure of Return of Saturn, the band quickly began work on their next album. Highly influenced by Jamaican dancehall music and recorded primarily in Jamaica, No Doubt'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. Also, in 2001, the band performed on Kelis's second CD titled Wanderland. The song "Perfect Day" features the band playing the entire song with Gwen providing backup vocals. In addition, pop-star Prince wrote and produced "Waiting Room" on 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".[16]

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2003 was a big year of releases for No Doubt. The album The Singles: 1992-2003, a compilation of all commercially released singles from the band, was released in November 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.[17] 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 performed with blink-182 in mid 2004, before embarking on a hiatus.

Hiatus (2004-present)

Stefani performing on the Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005.

Lead singer Gwen Stefani began work on her 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[18] and triple platinum in the U.S.[19] Stefani launched her first solo arena tour in October 2005, which coincided with the news of her pregnancy (with her son, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale, born on May 26, 2006).

In early 2005, Tom Dumont released his own solo music project, Invincible Overlord, with friend and collaborator Ted Matson. Their music is downloadable for free on the group's web site, and they backed up Matt Costa on his 2005 tour.[20] 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,[21] as well as featuring on several shows in 2006 for theSTART.[22] Young will also be playing on Rockstar: Supernova runner-up Dilana's upcoming album.[23]

On December 5, 2006, Gwen Stefani released her second solo album, The Sweet Escape. With Stefani promoting her second solo album, and a national tour in 2007, No Doubt has begun work on a new album[24] and plans to complete it after Stefani's tour is finished.[25]


Members

Current

Touring band:

Former

  • John Spence – co-lead vocals (1986–1987)
  • Eric Stefani – keyboards, guitar (1986–1995)
  • Jerry McMahon – guitar (1986–1988)
  • Chris Webb – drumkit (1986–1989)
  • Chris Leal – bass guitar (1986–1987)
  • Alan Meade – trumpet, co-lead vocals (1986–1988)
  • Tony Meade – saxophone (1986–1988)
  • Gabriel "Papa Gallo" Gonzalez II – trumpet (1986-1990)
  • Paul Caseley – trombone (1987–1990)
  • Eric Carpenter – saxophone (1988–1994)
  • Don Hammerstedt – trumpet (1990–1992)
  • Alex Henderson – trombone (1991–1993)
  • Phil Jordan - trumpet (1992-1997)

Discography

Further information: No Doubt discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Video releases

See also

References

  1. ^ MacDonald, Patrick. "Gwen Stefani: She sings! She designs! She dances ... uh, um, no". The Seattle Times. November 18, 2005. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
  2. ^ "Gwen Stefani". NNDB. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c d "No Doubt". Behind the Music. VH1. April 9, 2000.
  4. ^ "Timeline". Retrieved December 23, 2006.
  5. ^ Bush, John. "Biography". All Music Guide. Retrieved December 23, 2006.
  6. ^ Born to Be. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: March 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006.
  7. ^ No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom". MTV News. April 8, 1996. Retrieved December 23, 2006.
  8. ^ "The Recording Industry Association of America's Top-Selling Albums of All Time". Pearson Education. 2006. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
  9. ^ "No Doubt". Rock on the Net. Retrieved December 24, 2006.
  10. ^ Sandler, Adam. "Interscope facing Trauma in $100 million lawsuit". Variety. May 28, 1997. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  11. ^ Thigpen, David E. "A Sound Reborn". Time. November 10, 1997. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  12. ^ Kamps, Garrett. "Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album". Rhapsody. 2006. Retrieved December 25, 2006.
  13. ^ Backus, Paul. "Reel Big Fish Show Ska is Still Rockin'". New University. Volume 40, Issue 8. November 6, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2006.
  14. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review". All Music Guide. May 12, 2000. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  15. ^ Willman, Chris. "Future Tense?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  16. ^ "Spiderwebs". Yahoo! TV. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  17. ^ "Grammy Awards 2005: Key winners". BBC News. February 14, 2005. Retrieved January 6, 2007.
  18. ^ "Gold & Platinum Certification". CRIA. 2006. Retrieved January 3, 2006.
  19. ^ "The Future of Music Achieves Major Landmark as Gwen Stefani Makes Digital History with One Millionth Commercial Download of 'Hollaback Girl'". Universal Music Group. October 3, 2005. Retrieved January 3, 2006.
  20. ^ Kaufman, Gil and Dotiwala, Jasmine. "No Doubt's Tony Kanal Spends Band's Hiatus Producing Reggae LP, Remixing Gwen". MTV News. May 16, 2005. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  21. ^ "For The Record: Quick News On Britney Spears, Green Day, Avril Lavigne, Jennifer Lopez, A Perfect Circle & More". MTV News. June 30, 2004. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
  22. ^ "Help us welcome back Adrian!". theSTART official website. September 5, 2006. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
  23. ^ "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.
  24. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer and Richard, Yasmine. "No Doubt — Minus Gwen — In Early Stages Of New Album". MTV News. May 12, 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  25. ^ Cohen, Jonathan. "Stefani: No Timetable For No Doubt Reunion". Billboard. December 12, 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
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