CURIOSITIES

The real name (which you may not have known) of some of the most famous singers

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, William Michael Albert Broad or Peter Gene Hernandez: perhaps not all of you know these names, but in reality they are the original name and surname of some of the most famous singers in the world.

Musicians often change their stage name for commercial reasons, to shorten it or to make it easier to memorize. Others choose a new name for convenience or emotional reasons.

Here is the real name of some of the most famous musicians and how it was chosen.

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The real name (which you may not have known) of the most famous musicians
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, William Michael Albert Broad or Peter Gene Hernandez: perhaps not everyone knows these people, but in reality they are the original name and surname of some of the most famous singers in the world. Musicians often change their stage name for commercial reasons, to shorten it or to make it easier to memorize. Others choose a new name for convenience or emotional reasons. Here is the real name of some of the most famous musicians and how it was chosen.
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David Bowie: David Robert Jones
David Robert Jones did not want to be called that because he was afraid of being confused with David Jones, better known as Davy Jones, or the frontman of Monkees, a pop-rock group founded in 1965 in Los Angeles. Bowie instead derives from the homonymous hunting knives created by the American Jim Bowie:David chose this surname to emphasize his love for the USA. It seems that David had the intuition of the surname after seeing the 1960 film "The Alamo", in which the character of Jim Bowieappears. 
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Katy Perry: Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson
The Californian singer chose to change her surname to Perry (her mother's maiden name) because she thought Katy Hudson reminded too much of the actress Kate Hudson.
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Miley Cyrus: Destiny Hope Cyrus
The name Destiny Hope was given to the singer by her parents as they were convinced that their daughter would achieve great results in life once she grew up. Miley, on the other hand, derives from Smiley, nickname with which the popstar was called as a child because she often smiled. Being very close to her paternal grandfather Ronald Ray Cyrus, who died in 2006, later Destiny legally changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus.
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Steven Tyler: Steven Victor Tallarico
Steven's father was of Italian-German origin: in particular, his grandfather was Giovanni Tallarico a musician who emigrated from southern Italy, specifically from Calabria. Tyler is therefore the English version of his father's surname.
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Stevie Wonder: Stevland Hardaway Judkins
As a child, the musician took the name Stevland Morris when his mother separated from her husband. Stevie was a child prodigy, so much so that he signed his first recording contract at the age of 11 with Motown Records: for this reason, during his first recording experience, he was given the name Little Stevie Wonder.
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Bruno Mars: Peter Gene Hernandez
Bruno was the nickname of the singer as a child, given to him by his father because, according to the latter, Peter was very similar to the wrestler Bruno Sammartino. The artist then added Mars because as a young man he felt unattractive and the girls told him that he seemed out of this world, as if he came from Mars.
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Ringo Starr: Richard Starkey
The historic drummer of Beatles had the inspiration for this stage name starting from his passion in wearing rings (Ring in English means ring), while Starr was chosen because from the sound point of view this congome seemed harder and more decisive than Starkey.
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Bono Vox: Paul David Hewson
Paul Hewson as a young man he joined a group of rebellious boys from his neighborhood, the Lipton Village: in this group, everyone was given a nickname. For Paul was chosen "Bono Vox". This nickname was inspired by a hearing aid shop in Dublin, the Bonavox. Paul initially did not like this name, but the singer changed his mind when he discovered that in Latin this pseudonym meant beautiful voice (although the correct version is Bona Vox, feminine, like the shop). Later, with the debut of U2, the stage name Bono Vox was reduced to Bono.
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John Legend: John Roger Stephens
The first to call John Legend in this way was the artist and poet J. Ivy, who began to nickname John "The Legend" as he believed that his voice was as beautiful as that of the legends of the soul.
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Iggy Pop: James Newell Osterberg Jr.
James Newell Osterberg Jr. began to have notoriety playing in the band Iguanas: from the name of the group derives his nickname Iggy. Pop instead derives from Jim Popp, a person to whom Iggy resembled, according to the other members, when he appeared at the auditions for the The Stooges.
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George Michael: Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou
George's father was of Greek Cypriot descent and emigrated to the UK in the 50s. The historic voice of the Wham! decided to use Michael surname as a surname when it achieved fame, as it was more accessible and easier to pronounce and remember.
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Freddie Mercury: Farrokh Bulsara
Farrokh Bulsara was born in Stone Town, the historic center of the capital of the Zanzibar archipelago, at the time a British protectorate (now part of Tanzania), to parents of Persian origin. It was his classmates who nicknamed him Freddie, while Mercury was chosen for several reasons. First, in Greek mythology Mercury (Ermes) was the messenger of the deities and the protector of the word. In addition, the zodiac sign of the voice of the Queen was Virgo, an earth sign ruled by the planet Mercury.
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Alicia Keys: Alicia Augello Cook
The singer revealed in an interview with the program CBS This Morning that the stage name was born from the imagination of her friend, Michael Mauldin. Michael was looking for the keys to his briefcase: so, he recommended the name "Keys" (keys in English). The singer liked this proposal very much because, since she has always played the piano, the musical keys have a fundamental role for her. Initially, before Keys, Alicia had thought of using "Wild" as a surname.
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Elton Hercules John: Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Sir Elton John is named after the musicians Elton Dean and John Baldry, who were part of his first band, the Bluesology. The two musicians were fundamental for the personal and artistic growth of the singer-songwriter, who chose to legally change his name also for the bad relationship he had with his father Stanley.
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Cat Stevens/Yusuf: Steven Demetre Georgiou
Son of a Greek-Cypriot father and a Swedish mother, Steven changed his name for the first time after a friend pointed out to him early in his career that his eyes looked like those of a cat (Cat, in English) in shape, color and cut. In 1977, after nearly drowning in Malibù, Stevens converted to the firstslam: for this reason he changed his name again and today calls himself Yusuf.
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Axl Rose: William Bruce Rose Jr.
The frontman of Guns N' Roses chose his stage name drawing inspiration from his original band , which was originally called "Axl", and then called "Hollywood Rose". When the group disbanded, William Bruce Rose Jr. He decided to leave the name Axl for himself.
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Bob Dylan: Robert Allen Zimmerman
Robert Allen Zimmerman said he started using the pseudonym Dylan early in his career, when he was studying at the University of Minnesota and performing in clubs folk for a few dollars. Many fans claim that Dylan is an homage to the poet Dylan Thomas. During an interview with New York Times, however, the singer-songwriter denied this theory: in general, Dylan has always told little about his private life, including the origins of his pseudonym.
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Billy Idol: William Michael Albert Broad
This nickname comes from an event that happened during the singer's adolescence. When William was at school, the teacher gave him back a drill that he had misspelled William is idle ("William is a slacker"). From that moment he began to be called by everyone Billy Idol (idle and idol in English are pronounced the same way but, while idle means slacker or lazy, idol instead means idol).
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Billie Eilish: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell
Many believe that "Eilish" is Billie's surname, it is actually his middle name. Also, "Eilish" was originally intended to be the singer's first name, chosen by her parents while watching a documentary about the Irish twins Katie and Eilish Holton. When the singer's mother was pregnant, however, her grandfather Bill died and so the parents chose as their name "Billie": the singer stated that she does not like this name at all, because according to her it is a goat name adapted to a human being. "Pirate" was chosen by his brother Finneas, four years older than her.
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