Gwen Stefani honored the memory of one of No Doubt‘s founding members, John Spence, in a tribute posted 35 years after his death.
Spence was the original lead singer in the earliest days of the Anaheim, Calif., group, while Stefani provided backing vocals. The first version of No Doubt — with a name inspired by a phrase Spence often said — was formed in 1986. “For some reason there was automatically this built-in following,” Stefani said in a 1996 interview with Spin. “People loved the fact that it was a girl, that it was 2-Tone, that it was me and John up there.” A year later, Spence died by suicide at the age of 18.
“remembering John Spence today, and always,” Stefani wrote of the late singer and friend on Instagram Wednesday (Dec. 21).
The pop star and Voice coach shared six photos on her post, leading with a black-and-white image of the two of them together. Some of the other pictures included performance shots and what appears to be a school yearbook photo of Spence.
See her collection of personal photos with Spence on Instagram.
