Look Back at Gwen Stefani's Grammy Award-Winning Songs
The Voice Coach came to the competition with a collection of iconic singles and a few trophies to match.
The Voice Coach Gwen Stefani joined the show in Season 7 with a string of hits as a solo artist and with her band, No Doubt — as well as a shelf full of honors from the industry that includes three Grammy Awards and 18 nominations.
After appearing on The Voice Seasons 7, 9, 12, 17, 19, and 22 (each alongside her now-husband, Blake Shelton), Stefani returned as a Coach for Season 24 and everyone hopes to soak up some of Stefani's invaluable expertise.
A celebrated Voice veteran and now the recipient of the 2,764th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, no one can deny Stefani is a dynamite talent. Learn more about her successful music career and Grammy Award wins, below.
Gwen Stefani's Music with No Doubt
Stefani's older brother, Eric Stefani, formed No Doubt with friends in 1986, ultimately inviting his little sister to contribute back-up vocals to his brass-backed ska band. After the tragic death of their original lead singer John Spence in 1987 and an unsuccessful first album on Interscope in 1992, the band underwent a series of changes that ultimately led to Stefani singing lead vocals, with Tony Kanal on bass, Adrian Young on drums, and Tom Dumont on guitar. Together (with some assistance from Eric Stefani on keyboards), they released the chart-topping, Grammy-nominated Tragic Kingdom in October 1995.
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No Doubt's follow-up album, Return to Saturn, was released in April 2000 and garnered a Grammy nomination. They followed that up with Rock Steady in December 2001, which earned the band both their first and their second Grammys. They released a compilation album, The Singles 1992-2003, and then took a several-year hiatus while Stefani launched her solo career.
Gwen Stefani's Award-Winning Collaborations
Stefani, who had already contributed vocals to "Saw Red" on Sublime's 1994 album Robbin' the Hood, subsequently sang the duet "You're the Boss" with the Brian Setzer Orchestra for their 1998 swing-inspired album The Dirty Boogie. She also contributed vocals to Moby's "South Side" off his 1999 album Play (which were left off the initial release and restored for its single release, according to Rolling Stone). Then, she recorded the award-winning duet, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Eve for her 2001 album Scorpion.
Gwen Stefani's Music as a Solo Artist
Stefani's first solo album, the multiplatinum Love. Angel. Music. Baby, was released in November 2004 and earned her six more Grammy nominations. Her second solo album, The Sweet Escape, came out in December 2006.
She then returned first to touring and then to the studio with No Doubt for their last album to date, 2012's Push and Shove. She joined The Voice for the first time as a coach in 2014; that year, she also released the singles "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire." She then released her solo album This Is What the Truth Feels Like in March 2016, leading off with the single "Used to Love You."
She then released the duet, "Go Ahead and Break My Heart" with Shelton in May 2016. She subsequently released the Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, in 2017, which also featured a duet with Shelton. The two recorded and released two more duets together: "Nobody But You" in 2019 and "Happy Anywhere" in 2020.
RELATED: Watch Every Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani Song Duet
In 2020, she released the singles "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" followed by "Slow Clap" (as well as a remix of "Slow Clap" featuring Saweetie) in 2021. She has said the two songs are from a forthcoming fifth solo album.
Throughout her career, Stefani has a been celebrated by the music industry with multiple Grammy Award nominations and wins. Get more details on her Grammy-winning songs, including as a member of No Doubt and as a solo artist, below.
Gwen Stefani's Grammy Award wins
Let Me Blow Ya Mind
In 2002, Stefani and Eve won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Eve’s hit “Let Me Blow Ya Mind.” But the pairing almost didn't happen: Eve told Glamour in 2021 that her label hadn't been keen on her idea to have Stefani's featured vocals.
"I got told that that song would not work, that people would be like, 'Why are these two chicks together?'" she said."I was like, 'Look, let's try it. If it sucks, no one ever has to hear it.' But of course it didn't. I knew it wouldn't."
In a 2018 appearance on The Talk while Eve was a co-host, Stefani expressed surprise when Eve said that she'd fought for Stefani's inclusion because she was such a big fan.
“Really? I thought it was the opposite," Stefani said. "I thought they said, ‘You need to have her on the record.’”
Hey Baby
No Doubt won their first Grammy for Best Pop Performance by A Duo or Group with Vocal in 2003 for “Hey Baby" (featuring Jamaican artist Bounty Killer), off their album Rock Steady.
The song chronicles Stefani's experience as a female lead singer with a then-long distance boyfriend touring with her single male bandmates.
"You got these girls who basically go to concerts to try to see if they can get with the guys," she told MTV News at the time. "For some reason, if you're talented and you're up there, girls want to make out with you."
Underneath It All
In 2004, No Doubt won a Grammy for another song off Rock Steady, "Underneath It All." A love song with a reggae beat and a verse by Jamaican artist Lady Saw, Stefani told Rolling Stone at the time that it was inspired by her romance with Bush's lead singer and guitarist, Gavin Rossdale. (The two were married in 2002, but divorced in 2016.)
"The day before we went over there [to write a song with the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart in London], I was in the park-with Gavin, and I had been keeping a journal,” she told the magazine. “And we were so in love, and I wrote that line, ‘You’re lovely underneath it all.’ You know, like, ‘After all the sh-t we’ve been through, you’re a really good person. I really think I might like you.’”
No Doubt's guitarist, Tom Dumont, attributed Stewart's influence to the song's success in another Rolling Stone interview.
There’s such experience behind that simplicity,” he said. “I would have way overthought those chord changes.”
