Gwen Stefani reveals the song she wrote when she was ‘near dying’

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 song took its final form, the 55-year-old pop star shared that it was originally written by her brother. “This song was written by my brother (No Doubt co-founder and ex-member Eric Stefani). He stayed up all night smoking cigarettes, eating burritos and writing.”

However, “When he wrote it, it was completely different.”

When her label heard the song, they had a review. 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 said, ‘Doo, doo, doo,’ and he started with this super edited version of the melody of the verse. Tony (Channel, No Doubt bassist) had broken up with me and I was about to die and I wrote the words.

The Just a girl Looking back, the singer added: “It’s one of those crazy rewrites – probably the only one in history that actually turned out to be the heartbeat of my entire life.”

I admit, “I wouldn’t be here without this song.”

Gwen’s band No Doubt formed in California in 1986 and featured Stefani as lead singer alongside Tony, guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young.

After a long hiatus in 2015, the band reunited for a special performance at the Coachella Music Festival in April of this year.