When Gwen Stefani Lived a Double Life in College as a Famous Musician and a Student

Gwen Stefani is a celebrated multi-platinum musician who has sold over 60 million albums worldwide. The Rich Girl hitmaker first sang in a high school talent show while being prodded by her brother. In a 2021 interview with GQ, the three-time Grammy winner discussed her humble beginnings: "The very first thing was a high-school talent show, where my brother got us together with a bunch of kids and I just went with the flow. We were imitating that generation from the late 1970s, trying to be something cool. I wasn’t thinking about the music; all I cared about was having to make a dress, so my mother and I made a copy of the dress that Maria wears in The Sound Of Music when she sings I Have Confidence, the one the children call ugly. We did a cover of On My Radio by The Selecter and I didn’t even know the words by heart, I literally had a piece of paper with me on stage. We had so much fun with it and we got such a good reaction that we decided to form a band." 

By college, the Luxurious songstress had turned into a huge star, and she was juggling her studies with her accelerating music career. "It was doing a noontime concert at the college I was studying at, a Cal State College, where big bands such as Fishbone and Red Hot Chili Peppers had played previously. So many people had come from all over the place that the grass was torn up afterwards and I remember thinking, "Holy crap, we’re huge." I went to class the next day and people were passing their notebooks down asking for my autograph. It was weird, being in two roles – a student and then also being in the band that played yesterday." 

She recalled gaining confidence from writing her own songs: "I wasn’t good at school: I was super naive and very sheltered. When I started to write I felt like I was dying, my older brother who was everything to me was quitting the band and the boyfriend who I depended on quit me, so I felt, "What do I do?" I wrote one song and then they just kept coming. Another milestone was playing our first show at a club as the only singer. This confidence just came out of me that night, I could control the audience and I just knew how to do it. I remember going into the parking lot after and thinking, "I might be good at this." Performing became an instinct, a power that I had."

Stefani recalled her father being surprised by her career choice: "I remember him saying that and being like, "Woah, that's weird because I remember you saying to me this is just a hobby and don’t take it seriously," because we were all going to college and trying to be something. He told me not to change my style or let anyone else change what I was doing, which was so important. We were really off the map: we were doing the opposite of what was popular at the time and we never thought we’d make it. We were this quirky, nerdy group and we were playing for our peers."