Eric Matthew Stefani (born June 17, 1967) is an American musician and animator best known as the founder and former member of the

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...

band

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboar ...

. He is the older brother of former bandmate

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...

and is also a former animator on the television series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' and ''

The Ren & Stimpy Show ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', commonly referred to as simply ''Ren & Stimpy'', is an American animated Comedy film, comedy television series created by John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series follows the misadventures of Ren Höek, an emotion ...

''.

Early life and education

Stefani is the son of Dennis and Patti Stefani. He attended Loara High School in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

. He worked at a

Dairy Queen International Dairy Queen, Inc. (DQ) is an American multinational fast food chain founded in 1940 and currently headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota. The first Dairy Queen was owned and operated by Sherb Noble and first opened on June 22, ...

with his sister Gwen and John Spence. After high school, he attended

Cypress College Cypress College is a public community college in Cypress, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and belongs to the North Orange County Community College District. It offers a variety of general education (55 associat ...

. He went on to study animation at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

in 1991. According to No Doubt's guitarist Tom Dumont, Eric was able to write music for the band despite not knowing music theory—an accomplishment that impressed Dumont, since he was a music major.

Career

Stefani, his sister Gwen and John Spence formed the band No Doubt in 1986.Vineyard, Jennifer
"Tunes and 'Toons"
, OCWeekly.com, February 26, 1998; retrieved August 24, 2007. The group added several members and performed live shows at venues such as Fenders Ballroom in

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. The group started writing original material much of which Eric Stefani contributed. He left once the band's album '' Tragic Kingdom'' was recorded. Eric and Gwen were nominated as a songwriting team at the

1998 Grammy Awards The 40th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998, at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Performers * Will Smith – Men In Black/ Gettin' Jiggy Wit It * R. K ...

for Song of the Year for " Don't Speak". Stefani left the group before their breakthrough to work in animation full time, previously splitting his time with the band, and working for ''

''. The episode " Homerpalooza" contains a quick scene, drawn by Stefani, where the members of No Doubt appear, although they aren't featured. In an interview on ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire variety talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing w ...

'' on October 26, 2020, Gwen revealed that Eric recorded some instrumentation on one of the tracks for her upcoming album, which ended up being " Let Me Reintroduce Myself".

References

External links

Blogger: User Profile: Eric Stefani
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefani, Eric 1967 births Living people American rock keyboardists American ska musicians California Institute of the Arts alumni Musicians from Anaheim, California No Doubt members 20th-century American keyboardists