It almost seems that to be a star, you first have to change your name to something more appealing. With big names like Jason Mraz, Michael Buble, and Yngwie Malmsteen, I have to wonder, why change your name at all?
Chaim Weitz was born in Haifa, Israel and moved to the United States with his mother. We know him as ‘Gene Simmons’ of the rock band, ‘KISS’. Stanley Harvey Eisen became his band-mate and we now have, ‘Paul Stanley’. Hell, even George Peter John Criscuola managed to turn into ‘Peter Criss’! Spread the word and ‘Shout It Out Loud’!
Thomas DeCarlo Callaway was a part of The Goodie Mob, Gnarls Barkley, and Danger Mouse. Perhaps you have heard of Cee Lo Green? ‘Cee Lo’ is also a Chinese gambling game with three six-sided dice. Does that make him ‘Crazy’? Call him out, he’ll sing you the ‘Fuck You Song’.
William Michael Albert Broad was a member of Siouxsie and the Banshees, before they took that name, then left and formed ‘Generation X’. ‘Dancin’ With Myself’ and ‘Rebel Yell’ kind of made ‘Billy Idol’ a household name after that.
Vincent Damon Furnier wandered from Michigan to Arizona before he found the right line-up. ‘I’m Eighteen’, ‘Under My Wheels’, and “Billion Dollar Babies’ tell us that ‘Alice Cooper’ will never be Vincent Furnier again!
’18 and Life’ might ring a bell. ‘I Remember You’ was certainly a killer hit. Sebastian Philip Bierk, a Canadian heavy metal singer, suddenly becomes ‘Sebastian Bach’. See… that was not so difficult.
Robert Allen Zimmerman. Yep. That one’s a little harder. American folk-singer in the style of Woody Guthrie from the 1960’s, a massive car wreck changed his features, as much as his music. ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Lay Lady Lay’ do anything for you? We call him ‘Bob Dylan’
I wanna be a ‘Billionaire’ so frickin’ bad…. Bruno Mars has had a few smash hits. ‘Just The Way You Are’ made sure his name was up in lights. His mom knows him as Peter Rodriguez, Jr. Surprise!
Ultimately, the name is simply a handle. The songs, the music, the emotion…. that’s what we hold in our ears and hearts.
So… what’s in a name, anyway?
