Ongoing History of New Music

Ongoing History Daily: Real names of rock stars

A lot of rock stars go by professional names, inventing something cooler than what it says on their birth certificate.

  • Iggy Pop’s real name is James Newell Osterberg Jr.
  • Jimi Hendrix began as Johnny Hendrix.
  • Bono is really Paul David Hewson while bandmate The Edge is David Howell Evans.
  • David Bowie was born David Robert Jones.
  • Glenn Danzig of The Misfits is legally known as Glenn Allen Anazlone.
  • If you look at Chris Cornell’s birth certificate, you’ll see that it reads Christopher John Boyle. (When his parents divorced, he took his mother’s maiden name.)
  • Joe Strummer’s birth name was John Graham Mellor.
  • Flea from the Chili Peppers? Michael Peter Balzary.
  • Amy Lee of Evanescence? Amy Lynn Hartzler.
  • One more: Rob Zombie can’t be his real name. It’s not. It’s Robert Bartleh Cummings.

Got any you want to share?

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39159 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

One thought on “Ongoing History Daily: Real names of rock stars

  • Could go nuts with this! Even just with hair metal alone.

    Poison:
    Bret Michaels – Bret Michael Sychak
    CC Deville – Bruce Johannesson
    Rikki Rockett – Richard Ream
    Bobby Dahl – Robert Kuykendall

    Funnily enough, former guitar player Blues Saraceno…that’s his real name.

    Reply

Let us know what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.