Why Musicians Chose Their Stage Names (pt. 1)

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Stage names for artists are always fascinating to me. Whether somebody chooses to use their real name, they come up with something kinda close but still different, or an entirely new moniker, all of these stories are interesting. Fame is a curious thing and it's a wild concept to pick what millions of people will potentially know you as. Here are the stories/explanations of 50 bands/solo artists/etc. The next 50 will be out in a week from now.
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musician , name origin , why , explained , stage , artist , adele , alicia keys , anderson .paak , aphex twin , arcade fire , ariana grande , bb king , beck , beyonce , billie eilish , billy joel , bob dylan , bob marley , bon iver , bruno mars , chance the rapper , childish gambino , coldplay , the beach boys , david bowie , deadmau5 , drake , ed sheeran , elton john , eminem , fka twigs , fleetwood mac , foo fighters , freddie mercury , gorillaz , grimes , guns n roses , halsey , herbie hancock , imagine dragons , j. balvin , janelle monae , jay-z , jeff buckley , john legend , johnny cash , justin bieber , kacey musgraves , kesha , kendrick lamar , lady gaga

[hennerz]

For Lady Gaga you missed an important detail, fusari was meant to text her calling her ‘Radio Gaga’ but ‘Radio’ got autocorrected to ‘Lady’ and thus, she decided that’s what she would call herself!

[BryanSteacy]

Another reason I've heard that Damon and Jamie chose "Gorillaz" is because the collective name for a group of Gorillas is "a band." So it's quite literally a band of Gorillas.

[fatboiii]

For what it's worth, WWE makes people choose a stage name so they can own the rights to everything they do within the company and all the merch etc.

[spartenz]

8:46 I'm fairly certain Frank took "Ocean" from Frank Sinatra's character in the original Ocean's Eleven, who was named Danny Ocean. George Clooney only reprised that role.

[moosechoose]

George Clooney’s character in Ocean’s 11 was originally played by Frank Sinatra

[SewerThing]

Todd In The Shadows said this, but you can also rearrange the letters in “Imagine Dragons” to get “Gonad Migraines”.

[PerkolatorTheTerminator]

To address half the comments: Yes, that’s why he said “Frank Sinatra and George Clooney’s character” because they both played the same character lol.

[CraftDPham]

Breezy Lovejoy was such a great name for Anderson .Paak, i learned about him while he was the touring drummer for Dumbfoundead

[alfieswindell]

Don't know if it's true so fact-check if you're interested but I've heard that the reason Eminem changed his name from M&M is because he was in an argument with his Mother and made the acronym "Everyone's Mother Is Nice Except Mine" and it just stuck from there

[hasanmahmd]

Seth Rollins was called Tyler Black on the indies, so he changed his name when he came to WWE.

For Rollins, Seth is a huge metal fan, and a fan of Black Flag in particular. The frontman, Henry Rollins, is where Seth got the last name

As for Seth, it straight up isn’t a common name in wrestling, so Seth decided to use it from here on out

[guess]

In case anyone was wondering wwe wants to be able to trademark their wrestlers stage names that’s why most wrestlers don’t use their own names.
And Seth Rollins name came about because he liked the name Seth and a nod to Henry Rollins.

[SASTSimon]

6:51 you are missing the entire part where people on forums started calling him the dead mouse guy

[Obbee]

the worst stage name/band name ever is: Hoobastank

[london]

I love that this starts with Seth Rollins lmao

[propername]

deadmau5's name WAS his online alias at first

[jtotheulian]

if I meet Kendrick Lamar I kinda wanna refer to him as "duck worth"

[trekgreenwood]

To answer why business wise people do this. It’s so they can still own their own name. In the music industry, if you’re signed to a label and use your regular first and last name, the label owns that name. Same with wrestling. WWE for example owns the name John Cena. So anytime he’s in a movie or commercial, they get a cut. Like a 360 deal in music. So having a stage name is just another way to keep your own name.

[kingshoob]

Loved this vid, super entertaining!!!! Top work

[MortanAMrk]

Are you telling me Elton Johns name is based on Long John Baldry, the guy who played Pingas Eggman

[ZacharyBorrelli]

Jamie Hewlett wasn't a part of Blur, unless you just meant Damon Albarn