Bio: Early life
Gwen Stefani was born in Fullerton, California and raised in Anaheim, California, and grew up in a Roman Catholic household. Her mother named her Gwen after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from The Four Tops’ 1968 cover of The Left Banke’s 1966 hit song “Walk Away Renée”. Her father Dennis Stefani is Italian American and works as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother, Patti Flynn, is of Irish and Scottish descent and worked as an accountant before becoming a homemaker. Gwen’s parents were fans of folk music and presented music by Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris to her. Gwen is the second oldest of four children; she has a younger sister Jill, a younger brother Todd, and an older brother Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt, but left the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
Many of the women in Gwen’s family were seamstresses, and much of her clothing was made by her or her mother. As a child, Stefani’s musical interests consisted of musicals such as The Sound of Music and Evita. After making a demo tape for her father, she was encouraged not to take music lessons to train her “loopy, unpredictable” voice. Stefani’s first on-stage performance came during a talent show at Loara High School, where she sang “I Have Confidence” from The Sound of Music in a self-made tweed dress inspired by one from the film. Stefani was on the swim team at Loara, and she worked scrubbing floors at a Dairy Queen and later at the makeup counter of a department store. After graduating from high school in 1987, she began attending California State University, Fullerton.
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