Gwen Stefani overcame self-doubt to become a pop icon. But does solo success spell the end of her band?

It's never been tougher to buy the idea that Gwen Stefani is just a girl. Over the last year, she's chalked up an impressive list of accomplishments that would make any wannabe pop star weep: sales of more than five million copies of her inaugural solo CD, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (which spawned four major hits, with a fifth single, "Luxurious," waiting in the wings), a bevy of magazine covers from Vogue to Rolling Stone, a bucketful of awards, two Grammy nominations, and the honour of being the first artist to sell a million legal downloads. What's most compelling is that she's done all of this without the help of the band that first made her famous.

On her current Harajuku Lovers tour, which kicked off October 16 in Phoenix, there's no question fans are seeing Gwen Stefani in concert, not No Doubt. Her set lists have focused entirely on her own new work. The classic hits from No Doubt have been a no-show, causing many to wonder if Stefani's glittering solo career marks the end of band that's been an MTV mainstay for the past decade.

Stefani continues to deny that she's going it alone. Talking to the Georgia Straight from her Los Angeles home, the 36-year-old singer is adamant that she's still very much a part of No Doubt, even as reports emerge that another solo CD is already in the works. "We've been talking a lot about doing a new No Doubt record," she insists. "It's going to be very interesting to see how it's all going to come together after we've all gone on these different journeys."

Different indeed. For Stefani, it's been a wild ride from the moment she decided she wanted to embark on a more personal project-one that would free her musically from the sound she's been associated with since No Doubt hit the charts with "Just a Girl". Her expectations of success for her solo project were modest. "I thought L.A.M.B. was just going to be a silly dance record," she explains. "In high school, I was listening to Club Nouveau, Prince, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, early Madonna tracks, and Cyndi Lauper. All that stuff was basically the soundtrack of my life. I just wanted to make a modern record that made me feel like those records did."

To create that feeling, Stefani teamed up with hit-making writer Linda Perry, known for her work with pop tarts such as Pink and Christina Aguilera. The outcome was L.A.M.B., an eclectic cocktail of all the musical styles that Stefani loves, from hip-hop, reggae, and rap to classic rock from bands like Queen (the ghost of which can be heard on "Hollaback Girl"). Making the record was a bit of an ego-bruising experience. Working alongside the prolific Perry, who can write a song faster than most people make dinner, Stefani's self-doubts surfaced. There were tears and fears aplenty, but eventually she managed to tap into her artistic self-doubts for the album's first single, "What You Waiting For?". To further bolster her yo-yoing confidence level, Stefani conjured up an ego-boosting posse, the Harajuku Girls, who've since sprung up in her videos, concerts, and even the designs for her fledgling, ultra-hip L.A.M.B. clothing line.

"I remember how exciting it was to see these girls in Tokyo when No Doubt toured Japan in 1996," she recalls. "And I just wanted to give them a shout-out [on the album]. At that point, I thought 'Man, I'm going to get me some of my own.' They became my muse, my inspiration, and gave me the confidence to overcome every time I drew a blank while creating my record."

It's almost hard to believe that Stefani-a legitimate icon who has epitomized cool more than any other pop star of her generation-would need reinforcements. "I probably have confidence, but there are lots of times when I don't," she confesses. "I sing a lot about it. There are a lot of lyrics about my insecurities. I think I'm like everybody where I have moments. One thing for sure that gives me confidence is my history, having 18 years of being with the band and travelling the world. It's something that you can't erase or can't take away from me, no matter what you say or talk shit. That gives me more confidence than I've ever had."

Not that Stefani has appeared to run low for long in that regard. As a teenager growing up in Orange County, California, she did as she pleased, even lying about being able to play the piccolo just so she could be in her high-school band and hang with her friends. At home, she was surrounded by music. Her parents, Dennis and Patti, were fans of folk icons like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris, but Stefani and her brother Eric had different musical obsessions. The siblings latched on to the ska-influenced tunes from English band Madness. Legend has it that it was Eric who got Gwen singing, prodding her to croon the lyrics of a song he wrote called "Stick It in the Hole", about a pencil sharpener.

Early in 1987, pubescent dreams of performing live took a major leap toward reality. Gwen, Eric, and their pal John Spence formed a trio called No Doubt. In a short time, the threesome blossomed into a seven-piece. After seeing No Doubt play a gig in Long Beach, California, Tony Kanal auditioned and joined the group. Things soon got hot and heavy for Stefani and Kanal, although the newly minted couple kept their relationship a secret for almost a year before going public. The bond with Kanal would play an instrumental role in the evolution of Stefani-both the woman and the pop icon-even after their breakup, which is well documented in "Don't Speak" on No Doubt's 1996 breakthrough album, Tragic Kingdom, and more recently on L.A.M.B.'s sentimental take on the aftermath of love, "Cool".

"I think what happened when Tony and I split up changed my life," Stefani admits. "I discovered that I was somebody, that I could write a song. Before that I didn't define me as me. I found my talent and it gave me a passion. It was the best thing that could have happened to me."

Kanal served as Stefani's training wheels during her adolescence. Post-split, she was ready to venture out on her own-shades of what is happening with her time off from No Doubt, except these days there is no real talk of a breakup. It's more accurate to call the disconnect between band and singer a hiatus. It's clear now that Stefani was more than ready to make the transition to solo artist. She finally felt like she was on solid ground; if she could soar as a songwriter, minus Kanal, she could certainly go it alone, without her No Doubt bandmates. After all, when it came to songwriting she was no rookie. She had helped sell more than 30 million No Doubt records and toured the world, spending so much time on the road that, initially, she had no plan to play live shows to promote L.A.M.B.

"I think that the one thing I've done a lot in my life is touring," she said this past April. "It takes you away from all the people you love and it's exhausting. For the guys to go on tour, it's just a big party. For me, it's like training for the Olympics. I'm not going to say I'm not going to tour, because I'd really love to get started on the next No Doubt record."

Things have since changed. Stefani is very much on the road, currently swinging through Winnipeg and Edmonton on the way to Vancouver for a Sunday (November 20) show at GM Place. For now, it's all about the solo career-and the fashion, lest we forget that Stefani has become a designer to be reckoned with. Her L.A.M.B. line is selling well. In September, she joined the fashion big leagues with her first New York runway show, revealing her spring/summer 2006 collection. Sean "Diddy" Combs, Lenny Kravitz, and Ashanti were on hand, cementing her street cred among both the fashionista and celeb set. Not that Stefani needed further validation as a designer, but when Vogue editor Anna Wintour called the line "the next DKNY", L.A.M.B. (originally Stefani's nickname for the family dog) was officially blessed.

For Stefani, the roots of her passion for fashion lie in her genes. "I love designing. I really want to do it the rest of my life," she says with enthusiasm. "My mom used to design my clothes, and her mom made her clothes. Definitely it's in my blood. To do it on this level, though, is way beyond a dream come true. The world is my oyster."

Although she's talking about fashion, the same could easily be said about her music career. Stefani is at the top of her game, and she knows it. "It's a bunch of miracles, like winning the lottery," she reflects. "I think success is always a surprise."

On the flipside, she understands the brittleness of it all as well: "For me, it's been amazing to be on this journey. I've been very fortunate, but there's always going to be a point where some people won't like what I do”¦ Then they'll shoot me down. I'll be dead for a while, but then I'll be back."

For now, that's not something Stefani needs to think about. She's not going anywhere for a long while yet. Even if she's just a girl, she's sitting pretty at the top of the music world, out there on her own.