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Gwen Stefani "Just a Girl" about to take over Las Vegas Words by Allison Kugel Photo credit: Yu Tsai and Denise Truscello Gwen Stefani spent her childhood and adolescence in Anaheim, California, a suburban girl living just a stone's throw from Disneyland. It was her older brother, Eric, who founded No Doubt, the hybrid ska/punk/rock band that would help Gwen make her way into the musical limelight with their 1995 breakout album, Tragic Kingdom. The band's unique sound coupled with Gwen's platinum blonde hair, red lips, and punk-rock fashion sensibility brought the singer to rock star status in the 1990s. With lyrics torn from the pages of Gwen's personal diary about falling in love, breakups, makeups, and mending a broken heart, her music has always drawn in listeners with its raw vulnerability. Her down-to-earth nature and self-deprecating sense of humor helped to seal the deal with fans, making her one of the most successful female recording artists of the past twenty-three years. Her first solo album, 2004's Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and L.A.M.B. fashion label, catapulted her into the music and style icon stratosphere in the early 2000s. Follow up albums like 2006's The Sweet Escape and No Doubt's 2012 reunion album, Push and Shove capped off two decades of non-stop recording and touring for the Grammy- Award-winning artist as she focused on raising her three sons with then-husband, BUSH lead singer, Gavin Rossdale. In the summer of 2015, the California girl experienced a seismic 8.5 earthquake in her personal life when her marriage to Gavin imploded amidst a cheating scandal. An unexpected romance came in the form of country crooner / The Voice costar, Blake Shelton, whom the Hollaback Girl began dating later that same year. Gwen then did what she does best, poured her emotions into her 2016 album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like —her most personal music to- date— and a subsequent tour. This summer, the hit-making mom of Kingston, 11, Zuma, 9, and Apollo, 4, is preparing to embark on her Las Vegas residency at Zappos Theatre at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. It's called, what else? "Gwen Stefani: Just A Girl" – an homage to her first single to make the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and her own personal anthem that she says still holds true today. I sat down with Gwen to scuss this new chapter in her life and career.