The Stories That Inspired Musicians’ Stage Names

Sometimes you might wonder “These musicians’ parents have a very good taste in giving a name to their children!”, well, some of their names are actually that catchy but some are just a stage name. These musicians have their stage names just to make them sound more edgy, memorable and definitely the name has to be unique and different. But sometime, these names come from a memorable incident or childhood memories. For example, Pink, she was inspired to use ‘Pink’ as her stage name because it was what her friends said when she was bullied.

We have listed ten musicians with their stage names and the reasons why they picked those names.

1.   Sting : Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner

His’ stage name came when he wore a black and yellow sweater (with black strypes) for his performance with the Phoenix Jazzmen. The frontman of the band thought it made him looked like a bee.

2.   Pink : Alecia Beth Moore

The story behind this was actually when she got bullied by her friends at school. So, Alecia (or Pink)’s pants were pulled down by some of her friends at camp and she felt embarrassed by that, and then her cheeks blushed, and her friends shouted at her “Look at her! She’s Pink!”

3.   Slash : Saul Hudson

Slash was given by his family friend, Seymour Cassel. He was called as Slah because he always in a hurry.

 4.   Sid Vicious : John Simon Ritchie

The nickname was originally given by John Lydon, and it’s after his hamster, Sid. And one day, Sid the hamster bit John (Sid)’s hand and he said “Sid is Vicious!”

5.   Deadmau5 : Joel Zimmerman

Joel’s moniker was inspired by an incident when he found a dead mouse in his computer, and he tried to use ‘Deadmouse’ for his chatting account, but it was too long, then he shortened it into : Deadmau5.

6.   Lady GaGa : Stefanie Germanotta

Some say that it’s from her friend, but the strongest source says it’s from Queen’s Radio Gaga. Well, Queen has been inspiring people and will always be.

7.   Iggy Pop : James Newell Osterberg

When he was in high school, he used to play drums for a band called the Iguanas. Which later it was shortened as Iggy. So where did the Pop come from? It came from when he shaved off his eyebrows, and he had a friend named Jimmy Pop who also lost all of his hair, including his eyebrows.

8.   Snoop Dog : Cordozer Broadus

His parents thought he looked like a dog from a cartoon, Snoopy.

9.      Gotye : Wouter Wally De Backer

So Wouter Wally or now mostly known as Gotye found his own name is not very sophisticated for the showbiz’s world. Thank god to French! Gotye is a French version of Wally, and his mother used to call him Gotye when he was a kid.

10.  Bono U2 : Paul David Hewson

Back in the day when he was still in Dublin, all of his schoolmates gave him “Bono Vox” as his moniker, it was Latin for “good voice”.