Gwen Stefani loves all her songs but Don’t Speak holds a special place as she admitted she won’t be here without it.
Speaking about how the hit track took its final form, the 55-year-old popstar shared it was originally written by her brother. “That song was written by my brother [No Doubt cofounder and ex-member Eric Stefani]. He would stay up all night and smoke cigarettes and eat burritos and write.”
However, “It was completely different when he wrote it.”
When their label heard the song, they had one critique. Gwen recalled, “They said, ‘We love the chorus. You should try to simplify the verses.'”
But Eric didn’t give up, “He sat at the piano with me and goes, ‘Doo, doo, doo,’ and he started with this super edited version of the melody of the verse. Tony [Kanal, No Doubt’s bassist] had split up with me, and I was about ready to die, and I wrote the words.”
The Just a Girl songstress added that looking back now, “It’s one of those crazy rewrites — probably the only one in history ever that actually turned out to be the heartbeat of my entire life.”
Admitting, “I wouldn’t be here without that song.”
Gwen’s band No Doubt formed in California in 1986, which had Stefani as the lead singer alongside Tony, guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young.
Following a long hiatus in 2015, the band recently came together again this April for a special set at Coachella Music festival.