This week, we are celebrating the birthdays of Sting (The Police Frontman), Bud Gaugh (Drummer of Sublime), and Gwen Stefani (Vocalist of No Doubt).
Sting (born October 2nd, 1951) has received 17 Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song as a solo musician and a member of the Police. In 2019, he received a BMI Award for “Every Breath You Take” becoming the most-played song in radio history. In 2002, Sting was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Police in 2003. In 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording. In 2003, Sting received a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for services to music. He was made a Kennedy Center Honoree at the White House in 2014 and was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2017.
With the Police, Sting has become one of the world’s best-selling music artists. Solo and with the Police combined, he has sold over 100 million records. He has collaborated with other musicians on songs such as “Money for Nothing” with Dire Straits, “Rise & Fall” with Craig David, “All for Love” with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, and “You Will Be My Ain True Love” with Alison Krauss. He also introduced the North African music genre raï to Western audiences through the hit song “Desert Rose” with Cheb Mami. In 2018, he released the album 44/876, a collaboration with Jamaican musician Shaggy, which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2019.
Bud Gaugh (born October 2nd, 1967) turned 55 this week. Gaugh is an American drummer who played in the bands Sublime (1988–1996), Long Beach Dub Allstars (1997–2002), Eyes Adrift (2002–2003), Volcano (2004), and Sublime with Rome (2009–2011).
Gaugh started his drumming career in high school playing snare with the Long Beach Junior Concert Band.
He met bassist Eric Wilson in 1979 and later started their first garage punk band, which was called The Juice Bros. They became founding members of Sublime in 1986. Around 1990, according to Marshall Goodman, Gaugh left the band due to some unknown reasons. Gaugh would not be the primary drummer on the 40 oz. to Freedom record or be a part of the two tours that followed its release in 1992. Gaugh would rejoin the band sometime shortly after for Robbin’ the Hood, which was released in 1994. In 1996, Sublime disbanded due to the death of lead singer Bradley Nowell from a heroin overdose. The Long Beach Dub Allstars then formed in 1997. Their first album, released in 1999, was called Right Back.
It was announced in early 2009 that Gaugh would be reuniting with Sublime at Cantina Los Tres Hombres in Sparks, Nevada, on February 28, with new frontman and guitarist Rome Ramirez in the place of Bradley Nowell. Following positive response, the band decided to reunite properly in August 2009 for a possible tour and new album. However, not long after the October 2009 performance at Cypress Hill’s Smokeout Festival, a Los Angeles judge banned the new lineup from using the Sublime name, and the band was forced to change its name. The new lineup of Eric Wilson, Bud Gaugh, and Rome Ramirez performed together as Sublime with Rome. A debut album, Yours Truly, was released on July 12, 2011.
Gwen Stefani (born October 3, 1969) is a singer, songwriter, actress, and fashion designer who rose to fame in the 1990s as the co-founder and lead singer of the popular band No Doubt, an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. A multi-Grammy Award winner, Stefani’s solo career has been a stellar one, leading to her selling more than 30 million albums globally and enjoying a five-season stint as a coach on the hit reality show “The Voice.”
Stefani is easily one of the most recognizable names in the music, film, and fashion industries, having fearlessly forayed into each sector with inspiring determination and success. She has won the love of millions of fans globally. Stefani got into music after her brother Eric invited her to perform the lead vocals for the ska music band he was forming in 1986.
Since the release of her first solo album in 2004, Stefani’s position as a global superstar has been firmly established. With a keen eye for fashion, Stefani launched her clothing line LAMB in 2003. The line was so popular that it was featured at New York Fashion Week. She was awarded the ‘Style Icon Award’ at the inaugural People Magazine Awards in 2014. She branched out into designing eyewear when she needed to wear glasses, collaborating with Urban Decay on a limited cosmetic eyewear range in 2016. Stefani dipped her toes into the acting sphere too, with a starring role in Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator” in 2004.
Renowned for her talent as well as her romantic life, Stefani was married to musician Gavin Rossdale from 2002 to 2016 and shares three sons with him. Following their 2014 divorce, Stefani married her second husband in 2021, country singer Blake Shelton. Stefani is a proud philanthropist who donated one million dollars to Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake–Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund in 2011, hosted a fundraiser with First Lady Michelle Obama in 2012, and supported 22 other worthy causes, which include charities focused on AIDS research, A.L.S., and cancer research.
Article by Kailee Maguire