Gwen Stefani: Blake Shelton’s Early Bond with Zuma and His Influence

It’s a special, celebratory week for Gwen Stefani and her family.

On Wednesday, August 22, the “Underneath It All” singer marked her son Zuma’s 16th birthday.

In a touching tribute, she highlighted his bond with his stepdad, her husband Blake Shelton.

Gwen took to Instagram on Zuma’s special day, sharing a video montage filled with photos of him through the years. The montage started with adorable baby photos. Zuma is Gwen’s second child with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale. They share three children: Kingston, 18, Zuma, and Apollo, ten.

The video included pictures of Zuma with his siblings, as a baby already playing with a guitar, selfies with his mom, and newer photos exploring his love for country music.

Gwen shared special moments of Zuma and Blake over the years. Gwen and Blake met during her first season on The Voice in April 2013, just two months after she gave birth to Apollo. They started dating in 2015, when Zuma was seven years old.

“Happy Sweet 16, Zuma!! We love [you] SO much!!” Gwen wrote in her caption. Fans quickly took to the comments section to wish him a happy birthday.

“Gwen’s got a little country boy & I’m loving it! Happy Birthday Zuma!” one fan wrote. Others added, “Happy Birthday. I feel your children love Blake and Oklahoma’s life and experience. Can’t believe your boys are so grown already,” and “Aweee happy birthday. You’d think that was Blake’s son, he sure is taking after him,” among other cheerful wishes.

Zuma indeed seems to take after his stepdad Blake. He recently made his country music debut at Blake’s honky-tonk bar, Ole Red, in Oklahoma, where the family has a ranch.

Gavin, a rockstar himself and the frontman of Bush, has opened up about his son’s musical interests. While promoting Bush’s new album, Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023, Gavin said to Us Weekly, “One son loves the Pumpkins and … Zuma, he’s got the country bug.” He joked, “I have no idea where he gets that from, but he’s got it.”

Gavin further commented that while he supports Zuma playing blues scales, it’s not his favorite. “Blues scales — there’s a specific pentatonic scale that rock and roll uses that we’ve never used in Bush. We don’t use that. … So he comes in and shows the pentatonic scale, and I’m like, ‘Oh God.'”

Gavin concluded, “That’s how much I love him. I will support him making any music. Even the blues,” adding a bit of humor to his heartfelt support.