Ongoing History Daily: The No Doubt suicide
No Doubt was formed by Eric Stefani, Gwen’s brother, just before Christmas 1986. The singer at the time was a guy named John Spence, a super-energetic guy who came famous for doing backflips. Gwen’s job back then was to sing harmonies.
There were a couple of lineup changes over the next year, but none as harrowing as when John Spence committed suicide just a couple of before the band was to play a big showcase gig for record company executives.
The band actually broke up for several weeks before deciding to get back together with saxophonist Alan Meade on vocals. That lasted for a while before Gwen got the gig full-time.
Yesterday’s post was all about Rivers Cuomo’s childhood.