Anyone who has seen her live during the past week will know that motherhood hasn't exactly tamed the vibrant Gwen Stefani.

The peroxide-blonde Californian, currently on a UK tour, is a showgirl.

And the arrival of a baby son, Kingston, has done little to change that.

Rock mummy: Gwen Stefani is on tour with baby son, Kingston, for the first timeAccompanied by her four flamboyantly-dressed Japanese dancers, the Harajuku Girls, Gwen uses the show to strut her stuff in a bling-festooned array of stage costumes - a leopard-print jumpsuit, hot pants and low-slung trousers - while her six-piece backing band serve up a high-octane blend of pounding hip-hop and silky electronics.

But being a yummy rock mummy is not without its complications.

Chatting in her hotel room a few hours before playing Birmingham, Stefani, who has her baby on tour with her, admits to having had plenty of "tortured nights" on the road.

"Kingston is walking now and he never sleeps," sighs the singer, who turns 38 on Wednesday. "And if he doesn't sleep, I don't sleep. Last night was insane. By this morning I thought I was going to die from the tiredness.

"It's hard to get the balance right. The touring life is hard enough as it is. Doing it with a baby can be almost impossible."

Gwen married British rocker Gavin Rossdale (once of Bush, now a solo artist) in 2002 after a long and occasionally bumpy courtship, and the couple welcomed Kingston into the world in May last year.

Despite the difficulties of balancing career and family, Stefani says that motherhood is the best thing that's ever happened to her - especially now that Rossdale is also with her on her travels.

"It's been great having my husband with me on this leg of the tour," she says.

"At first, I wasn't sure if I could handle Gavin being around all the time. I get very into the touring bubble when I am on the road, but he has been amazingly helpful.

"Motherhood isn't quite what I thought it was going to be. I thought it would change me as a person, but I still feel like my old self.

"I haven't changed. I still talk the same. I still act the same. Creatively, I feel exactly the same.

"The only difference is that life is now much better. I now have this mind-blowing little guy who is the reward for a lot of hard work. After having Kingston, I felt complete."

A short break in their busy schedule even allowed the Stefani-Rossdale clan the luxury of a trip to Twycross Zoo this week.

The singer says she has already transferred the family snaps of the unlikely visit of rock royalty to rural Warwickshire onto her laptop.

"It was incredible," she says. "We met a 44-year-old ape with five babies.

True Blue: Samantha Cameron (left) told Harper's Magazine that Gwen Stefani is her 'alter ego'"On my days off, I used to sleep in for as long as I could and then do a workout or go shopping. Now I get up early, play with Kingston and go out. For the first time, I'm actually seeing the places I'm visiting."

Stefani has sold 30 million albums since joining Orange County ska group No Doubt as a fresh-faced 17-year-old in 1986.

That band, heavily influenced by British acts Madness and The Specials, paid their dues on the LA club circuit before chalking up a global hit with Don't Speak in 1997.

Gwen plans to rejoin No Doubt in 2008, but the past three years have found her concentrating on an eclectic, unconventional side-project that has spawned two zany albums, the Eighties-influenced Love Angel Music Baby, from 2004, and last year's more modern The Sweet Escape.

But Stefani, who has worked with collaborators as diverse as Pharrell Williams, Andre 3000, Linda Perry and Keane, does not view either record as a solo album.

"That's what everyone calls them, but I'd be embarrassed to call myself a solo artist. Maybe one day I'll sit down at the piano and make a proper solo album.

"But the records I've made so far have been collaborations. I like letting other people into my world.

"I enjoy working with people who are intimidating to be around in the studio, people from different walks of music. Sometimes it is torture, but it has helped to keep everything fresh.

"It was all about making the greatest, most fun record."

And despite her upfront, confrontational style, Stefani insists that her "overall thing isn't sexy", an approach she puts down to her strict Catholic upbringing in comfortable Anaheim, California.

Her father Dennis worked as a Yamaha executive while mother Patti was an accountant who gave up work to bring up Gwen and her three siblings, one of whom, older brother Eric, was a founder member of No Doubt.

"I had very cool parents. Although they were very strict, they were also creative. My mom made all my clothes and they used to take us to art shows and bluegrass festivals.

"They were very folky, two high-school sweethearts who just wanted to settle down and have four children.

"That was what made me who I am today. From the age of 17, I was in a band with a bunch of guys. But, from my shoulders up, I was also very feminine. I've always been into dressing up and playing the Barbie Doll, but I don't think of myself as a sex symbol.

"I'm not the kind of woman who would appear in Maxim magazine. I don't want guys lusting after me. I'd be so embarrassed."

One woman who recently owned up to being a big fan of Stefani style is Samantha Cameron, wife of Tory leader David, who claimed in a magazine that she would love to dye her hair blonde just like Gwen, who she referred to as her "alter-ego".

Stefani confesses to not knowing too much about the Camerons - she was even unaware that she had a new fan - but is pleased enough with the compliment.

"Are you serious! That's crazy! I'm really proud of that kind of stuff. When I started in No Doubt, I never had the support of women.

"But then I started writing songs like Just A Girl, and that changed. I suddenly saw mirror-images of myself in the crowd. That was a very cool feeling."

Stefani is looking forward to completing her current tour and spending a few months with her husband and son in their London townhouse.

After that, still an Orange County girl at heart, she will head back to California for the No Doubt reunion. She might even catch up on some sleep.

"It's hard," she says. "I'm trying to focus on where I am right now, but I also feel that this is the end of a chapter. I never intended to play live so soon after having a baby, but making those two albums was so great that it inspired me to tour.

"I won't be doing these songs again, though. I'm going to miss them, but now I've got a light bulb in my head telling me what kind of music No Doubt should be making. I'm going back to my roots."

Anyone who has seen her live during the past week will know that motherhood hasn't exactly tamed the vibrant Gwen Stefani.

The peroxide-blonde Californian, currently on a UK tour, is a showgirl.

And the arrival of a baby son, Kingston, has done little to change that.

Rock mummy: Gwen Stefani is on tour with baby son, Kingston, for the first timeAccompanied by her four flamboyantly-dressed Japanese dancers, the Harajuku Girls, Gwen uses the show to strut her stuff in a bling-festooned array of stage costumes - a leopard-print jumpsuit, hot pants and low-slung trousers - while her six-piece backing band serve up a high-octane blend of pounding hip-hop and silky electronics.

But being a yummy rock mummy is not without its complications.

Chatting in her hotel room a few hours before playing Birmingham, Stefani, who has her baby on tour with her, admits to having had plenty of "tortured nights" on the road.

"Kingston is walking now and he never sleeps," sighs the singer, who turns 38 on Wednesday. "And if he doesn't sleep, I don't sleep. Last night was insane. By this morning I thought I was going to die from the tiredness.

"It's hard to get the balance right. The touring life is hard enough as it is. Doing it with a baby can be almost impossible."

Gwen married British rocker Gavin Rossdale (once of Bush, now a solo artist) in 2002 after a long and occasionally bumpy courtship, and the couple welcomed Kingston into the world in May last year.

Despite the difficulties of balancing career and family, Stefani says that motherhood is the best thing that's ever happened to her - especially now that Rossdale is also with her on her travels.

"It's been great having my husband with me on this leg of the tour," she says.

"At first, I wasn't sure if I could handle Gavin being around all the time. I get very into the touring bubble when I am on the road, but he has been amazingly helpful.

"Motherhood isn't quite what I thought it was going to be. I thought it would change me as a person, but I still feel like my old self.

"I haven't changed. I still talk the same. I still act the same. Creatively, I feel exactly the same.

"The only difference is that life is now much better. I now have this mind-blowing little guy who is the reward for a lot of hard work. After having Kingston, I felt complete."

A short break in their busy schedule even allowed the Stefani-Rossdale clan the luxury of a trip to Twycross Zoo this week.

The singer says she has already transferred the family snaps of the unlikely visit of rock royalty to rural Warwickshire onto her laptop.

"It was incredible," she says. "We met a 44-year-old ape with five babies.

True Blue: Samantha Cameron (left) told Harper's Magazine that Gwen Stefani is her 'alter ego'"On my days off, I used to sleep in for as long as I could and then do a workout or go shopping. Now I get up early, play with Kingston and go out. For the first time, I'm actually seeing the places I'm visiting."

Stefani has sold 30 million albums since joining Orange County ska group No Doubt as a fresh-faced 17-year-old in 1986.

That band, heavily influenced by British acts Madness and The Specials, paid their dues on the LA club circuit before chalking up a global hit with Don't Speak in 1997.

Gwen plans to rejoin No Doubt in 2008, but the past three years have found her concentrating on an eclectic, unconventional side-project that has spawned two zany albums, the Eighties-influenced Love Angel Music Baby, from 2004, and last year's more modern The Sweet Escape.

But Stefani, who has worked with collaborators as diverse as Pharrell Williams, Andre 3000, Linda Perry and Keane, does not view either record as a solo album.

"That's what everyone calls them, but I'd be embarrassed to call myself a solo artist. Maybe one day I'll sit down at the piano and make a proper solo album.

"But the records I've made so far have been collaborations. I like letting other people into my world.

"I enjoy working with people who are intimidating to be around in the studio, people from different walks of music. Sometimes it is torture, but it has helped to keep everything fresh.

"It was all about making the greatest, most fun record."

And despite her upfront, confrontational style, Stefani insists that her "overall thing isn't sexy", an approach she puts down to her strict Catholic upbringing in comfortable Anaheim, California.

Her father Dennis worked as a Yamaha executive while mother Patti was an accountant who gave up work to bring up Gwen and her three siblings, one of whom, older brother Eric, was a founder member of No Doubt.

"I had very cool parents. Although they were very strict, they were also creative. My mom made all my clothes and they used to take us to art shows and bluegrass festivals.

"They were very folky, two high-school sweethearts who just wanted to settle down and have four children.

"That was what made me who I am today. From the age of 17, I was in a band with a bunch of guys. But, from my shoulders up, I was also very feminine. I've always been into dressing up and playing the Barbie Doll, but I don't think of myself as a sex symbol.

"I'm not the kind of woman who would appear in Maxim magazine. I don't want guys lusting after me. I'd be so embarrassed."

One woman who recently owned up to being a big fan of Stefani style is Samantha Cameron, wife of Tory leader David, who claimed in a magazine that she would love to dye her hair blonde just like Gwen, who she referred to as her "alter-ego".

Stefani confesses to not knowing too much about the Camerons - she was even unaware that she had a new fan - but is pleased enough with the compliment.

"Are you serious! That's crazy! I'm really proud of that kind of stuff. When I started in No Doubt, I never had the support of women.

"But then I started writing songs like Just A Girl, and that changed. I suddenly saw mirror-images of myself in the crowd. That was a very cool feeling."

Stefani is looking forward to completing her current tour and spending a few months with her husband and son in their London townhouse.

After that, still an Orange County girl at heart, she will head back to California for the No Doubt reunion. She might even catch up on some sleep.

"It's hard," she says. "I'm trying to focus on where I am right now, but I also feel that this is the end of a chapter. I never intended to play live so soon after having a baby, but making those two albums was so great that it inspired me to tour.

"I won't be doing these songs again, though. I'm going to miss them, but now I've got a light bulb in my head telling me what kind of music No Doubt should be making. I'm going back to my roots."