Getty Gwen Stefani in June 2022
As Gwen Stefani heads into Christmas celebrations with her husband Blake Shelton and their family, she’s also reflecting on the loss of two dear friends. In emotional social media posts she shared on the same day, “The Voice” coach paid tribute to The Specials lead singer Terry Hall, who just died after a short battle with cancer, and No Doubt co-founder John Spence on the 35th anniversary of his death. Here’s what you need to know:
Gwen Stefani Reflects on Terry Hall’s Impact on Her Life
GettyTerry Hall performing with The Specials in 2009
On December 18, 2022, the music world was rocked by news that British-born musician Terry Hall — best known as the frontman of The Specials — had died of cancer at age 63.
According to the Associated Press, The Specials was revolutionary in England in the 70s, with a mix of Black and white members dressed in sharp suits and porkpie hats, playing Jamaica-influenced music, who became “leaders of the anti-racist 2 Tone ska revival movement.” Hall also was a songwriter for other bands; his credits include co-writing the Go-Go’s smash 1981 hit, “Our Lips Are Sealed.”
A legend in the type of music No Doubt was exploring in the 90s, Hall became a mentor to Stefani and some of her bandmates at the time, performing periodically with them and even appearing in music videos.
Two days after his death, on December 20, Stefani posted a vintage video and photo of Hall on Instagram and wrote, “terry, i would not be me without you. thank you for helping me find my identity through your music. i am forever inspired by you.” She added a red heart emoji and signed it “gx.”
Gwen Stefani Also Remembered John Spence on 35th Anniversary of His Death
Hours after her post about Hall, Stefani paid tribute in a separate post to John Spence, co-founder of No Doubt, the band in which she skyrocketed to fame in the 90s.
Sharing a carousel of old photos, she wrote, “remembering John Spence today, and always.” She added black heart and prayer hands emojis and included the hashtags #NoDoubt, #Ska and #Music.
Spence was a close friend of Stefani and her older brother, Eric, in the 80s when they were teens. He first met the siblings at the Dairy Queen where they were working in Orange County, California, according to E! News. The trio created the band No Doubt in 1986; Spence named the group and was the lead singer, while Stefani sang backup.
In 1987, just four days before Christmas and two days before the band was scheduled to perform for some industry executives at The Roxy in Hollywood, Spence died by suicide at age 18. According to American Songwriter, No Doubt initially broke up following their friend’s death but got back together with band member Alan Meade temporarily taking on lead vocals.
Eventually, Stefani wound up taking over the lead vocals. Her brother, who’d been the band’s keyboardist, designed the band’s new logo for T-shirts and fliers, but then left the group to become an animator on the iconic TV show “The Simpsons.”
No Doubt struggled for eight years as a punk/pop — or next-generation “Ska” — band to get noticed, and Stefani has said she nearly gave up right before the group scored their first big hits with “Don’t Speak” and “Just a Girl” in 1995.
“We were sitting there saying to ourselves, ‘Okay, we are 26. We’ve been doing this for eight years,'” Gwen told Interview Magazine in 2012. “‘Maybe we should finish up and get adult lives now.’ Then the record came out and people thought it was good, which was really weird, because we were always the dork band from Anaheim.”
The band wrote but never released a song called “Dear John” about Spence, which can be heard in a music video devoted to their original frontman.