Gwen Stefani: Can't Slow Down

Gwen Stefani: Can't Slow Down

Making a solo album to take a breather from leading a band? What was rocker Gwen Stefani thinking?: Aidin Vaziri | Gwen Stefani moans. On the other end of the phone line her usually cartoonish Orange County voice has been reduced to a road-weary rasp of Courtney Love proportions. She holds back a yawn while her crew prepares for the evening's show at Seattle's Key Arena. "I just need to hibernate for a minute," she says. That's understandable. Stefani's solo debut, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.," has gone six-times platinum. Her single "Hollaback Girl" just made history as the first song ever to be commercially downloaded 1 million times. Last week she won an American Music Award for favorite female artist. And people are still talking about the splash her L.A.M.B. clothing line made at New York Fashion Week in September. "I haven't stopped in years," Stefani says. "I'm burnt. I literally went from the Rock Steady tour with No Doubt into the studio, like the week we got off. Then it was studio torture making this record. Then we went on the greatest hits tour after that. Then I put my album out and here we are." Making a leftfield dance-music album with the likes of Outkast's Andre 3000, Dallas Austin and Linda Perry was supposed to offer Stefani, who last year also appeared as Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," a break from the usual rigmarole that comes with fronting a hugely successful rock band like No Doubt. Instead, it's made the 36-year-old singer's star shine even brighter, which means she's had to do things she never intended to do like this solo tour that reaches the Oakland Arena tonight. "By doing this I was really indulging in the things I never fully got to indulge in with No Doubt," Stefani says. "I never expected people to pay attention and like it as much as they have."