1986–1989: Formation, early years and line-up changes In 1986,
Eric Stefani and John Spence met at a
Dairy Queen and talked about getting a group together to play music. Stefani acquired a keyboard and gathered some players together to practice; these included himself (keyboards), his sister
Gwen Stefani (backing vocals), John Spence (lead vocals), Jerry McMahon (guitar), Chris Leal (bass), Chris Webb (drums), Gabriel Gonzalez (trumpet),
Alan Meade (trumpet), and Tony Meade (saxophone). They practiced in Eric's parents' garage. Paul Caseley (trombone) also joined the band in 1987. Eric Carpenter (saxophone) joined the horn section soon after. The group performed at an Orange High School backyard graduation party on June 6, 1987, with two other California ska bands. At the party, No Doubt's set included "Total Hate", "Too Much Pressure", "Danger", "Paulina", "Gangsters", and the song "No Doubt". Video clips from the party appeared on VH1's
Behind the Music. In December 1987, Spence died by
suicide, several days before the band was to play a gig at
The Roxy Theatre for
record industry employees. When Meade left the band, Gwen replaced him as lead singer, 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.
Adrian Young replaced Chris Webb as their drummer the following year. 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 they were playing. while Gonzalez left the band in 1992.
1993–1997: Reorganization and career breakthrough 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. Unsure of what to do with the band, Interscope sublicensed the project to
Trauma Records in 1993. No Doubt released
The Beacon Street Collection, consisting of outtakes from its previous recording sessions, in 1995 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. 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 by Gwen and Eric Stefani about Gwen 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 non-consecutive 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". and with worldwide sales of sixteen million. Through the success of
Tragic Kingdom, the band's self-titled debut album began again to sell copies, and reached total sales of over a quarter of a million copies. The case was
settled out of court with a $3 million payment.
1998–2003: Continued touring and new albums 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. 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. 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". On November 22, 2002, No Doubt received the Key to the City of Anaheim, given by the Mayor of Anaheim, Tom Daly, in
Disneyland during the band's appearance on (
KROQ-FM) where they performed five songs. In January 2003, No Doubt performed in the
Super Bowl XXXVII halftime show.
2003–2008: Greatest Hits and hiatus 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 and the Maytals classic song "
Monkey Man" for the
Grammy Award winning
True Love. The band also toured with
Blink-182 in mid-2004, before embarking on a hiatus. 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 US. No Doubt was featured on the album
True Love by
Toots and the Maytals, which won the
Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album, and showcased many notable musicians including
Willie Nelson,
Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck,
Trey Anastasio,
Ben Harper,
Bonnie Raitt,
Manu Chao,
The Roots,
Ryan Adams,
Keith Richards,
Toots Hibbert,
Paul Douglas, Jackie Jackson,
Ken Boothe, and
The Skatalites. 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. Tony Kanal helped with the production of the album as well. 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 also played on Rock Star: Supernova'' runner-up
Dilana's
Inside Out album. In 2008,
Tony Kanal collaborated with pop rock artist
Pink on the album
Funhouse. Kanal co-produced "
Sober", co-wrote "
Funhouse" and also sang back-up vocals on "Crystal Ball".
2008–2013: First reunion and comeback tour 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. However, songwriting was slow as Gwen Stefani was, at the time, pregnant with her second child. The album was produced by Mark "Spike" Stent, who helped produce and mix
Rock Steady. No Doubt announced on their official website that they would
tour in the summer of 2009 with
Paramore,
The Sounds,
Janelle Monáe,
Bedouin Soundclash,
Katy Perry,
Panic! at the Disco, and
Matt Costa, all while finishing their upcoming album, which was set for release in 2010. As a special promotion for the tour, the band was giving away their entire music catalog free as a digital download with purchase of top-tier seating. The band released another compilation album on November 2 called
Icon, in preparation for their upcoming comeback album.
Icon featured the same track listing as their previous compilation album
The Singles 1992–2003 albeit with new artwork and a low price point. On June 11, 2012, the band announced on their official website that the new album would be out on September 25, preceded by the first single on July 16. The album was titled
Push and Shove and the first single was a song called "
Settle Down". The music video for "Settle Down" was directed by
Sophie Muller (who has previously directed numerous music videos for No Doubt). "Settle Down" peaked at No. 34 on the
Billboard Hot 100 with the album peaking at No. 3. On November 3, 2012, the band pulled its music video "
Looking Hot" from the Internet after receiving complaints that it was insensitive towards Native Americans. As of February 1, 2013, the band stated via Twitter that they had "Finished a week of songwriting", implying that they have more new tracks written. As of February 26, 2013, the band officially confirmed through their website that they had indeed begun working on new music as well as plans for an upcoming tour.
2013–2015: Second hiatus and disbandment In October 2013, Tom Dumont revealed via
Twitter that the band was once again on hiatus, but hinted that they would regroup in 2014. No Doubt did reform for sporadic live performances during 2014 and 2015, among others at Global Citizen Earth Day Concert,
Rock in Rio USA,
Riot Fest, and KAABOO in
Del Mar, California, but did not announce a headline tour or release any new music. Around the release of her solo single "
Baby Don't Lie", Gwen Stefani announced that No Doubt were working on a new album. However, during an interview with the
Orange County Register in April 2015, Tony Kanal stated that the band was not working on any new material. In a June 2016 interview with
Rolling Stone, Stefani expressed uncertainty over the future of No Doubt. "I don't know what's going to happen with No Doubt. When Tony [Kanal] and I are connected creatively, it's magic. But I think we've grown apart as far as what kind of music we want to make. I was really drained and burned out when we recorded [2012's
Push and Shove]. And I had a lot of guilt: 'I have to do it.' That's not the right setting to make music. There's some really great writing on that record. But the production felt really conflicted. It was sad how we all waited that long to put something out and it didn't get heard." Later that year, the other members of No Doubt formed a new band
Dreamcar with
AFI singer
Davey Havok, releasing their debut album in 2017.
2022–present: Second reunion, Coachella and future In an interview with WSJ Magazine in December 2022, when asked about a reunion, Stefani said "What are the odds of anything? I was just on
The Drew Barrymore Show. She was one of my favorite celebrities when I was a little girl, and now I was just on the show with her. Anything can happen. We haven't really talked about doing anything, but it feels like everyone is, right? All the '90s people — Blink-182 did an eight-month tour that sold out in like five minutes." However, when
Nic Harcourt interviewed Adrian Young for AKG's
Stories Behind the Sessions (published in May 2023) and asked him if the world would see any more No Doubt music, Young replied: "I don't think so. I think [
Push and Shove] will remain our last album. And unfortunately, I don't see us touring anymore either. I could be wrong, you never know, things could change. I would love to have that feeling again, connect with the fans, and it's quite a shame we're not playing live." On January 16, 2024, the band teased a reunion show. On February 2, a source close to the band revealed to
Us Weekly that "the whole group has some ideas for new material and are open to a tour directly after [their] performance." They played a reunion show in April 2024, performing at
Coachella, the first time they played together since 2015. On January 30, 2025, No Doubt performed
another reunion show initially planned as a Gwen Stefani solo concert to support the aid and fundraising in response to the
January 2025 Southern California wildfires. On October 9, 2025, it was reported by
TMZ that No Doubt would be headlining a Las Vegas residency, playing six dates at
the Sphere in May 2026, making Stefani the first female to headline the arena. ==Musical style and influences==