Real Names of Musicians Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gordon Sumner

He was given the nickname Sting because of a striped yellow and black sweater he used to wear. It was said he looked like a bee.

Answer: David Jones

His manager thought he might be confused with Davey Jones of the Monkees.

Answer: John Mellor

Joe was the only member of The Clash that didn't use any part of his real name.

Answer: Declan MacManus

Elvis was for the king of rock and roll, & Costello was his great grand mothers name.

Answer: James Osterberg

One of the best stage names ever.

Answer: John Lydon

Rumor has it he got the name Rotten because of his bad teeth.

Answer: John Ritchie

Sid died of a drug overdose at 21, at the time he was out on bail accused of killing his girlfriend. Although most of his friends doubt that he could have done anything that vicious.

Answer: William Rose Bailey

He was born William Rose, but his stepfather adopted him, adding Bailey to his name

Answer: Saul Hudson

He was given the name Slash by a friend when he was a little boy.

Answer: Paul Hewson

Paul was originally nicknamed "Bono Vox" by his friend, Guggi, a high school cohort who stole it from a hearing aid store on O'Connell Street in Dublin. Fittingly enough, the original moniker meant "good voice" in cockeyed Latin. Paul later shortened it to Bono, which remains his name to this day.

Answer: David Evans

Early in the band's career, Dave Evans was re-named by Bono - then known as Bono Vox - as The Edge. The nickname was inspired in the beginning by the sharp features of his face, but it also applied to his sharp mind and the way he always observes things from the edge.

Answer: George O' Dowd

On October 1, 2002, Pittsburgh celebrated its first annual "Boy George Tribute Day" in honor of George's tireless devotion of energy "to the music industry as well as to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities via his international music talents and voice of poetry and reason".

Answer: Jeffery Hyman

The band's name was a insider salute to Paul McCartney, who used the stage name "Ramon" very early in his career.

Answer: Reginald Kenneth Dwight

The album was called "Reg Strikes Back".

Answer: Riley B. King

BB's real name is Riley. He changed it to Beale Street Blues Boy in the '40s, then to Blues Boy, and finally just BB.

BB was born on a Mississippi cotton plantation. He hitch-hiked to Memphis to pursue a musical career with just a guitar and $2.50 and never looked back.

Answer: Farrokh Bulsara

Freddie was born in Zanzibar.

Answer: Chaim Witz

Chaim Witz, named after his father, was born in Haifa, Israel on August 25th, 1949. Nine years later, he and his mother made the trek to America, leaving his father behind.
In New York, Chaim changed his name to Gene Klein and quickly learned to speak English by reading comic books and watching horror movies.

Answer: Courtney Michelle Harrison

According to some sources, early in her career Courtney claimed that her birth name was Love Michelle Harrison, however, California records indicate that her birth name was Courtney Michelle Harrison. Courtney's biological grandmother is children's book author Paula Fox. She is the daughter of Grateful Dead "devotee" Hank Harrison.

Answer: Cherilyn Sarkisian La Pierre

Abandoned by her father when she was a few months old and placed in a home until her mother, who is part Cherokee, could save money to support her, she was eventually adopted by her mother's fifth husband, Gilbert La Pierre.

Answer: Robert Zimmerman

He was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth and grew up in the mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota. His family owned a hardware store. He formed a high school band called the Golden Chords, then struck out solo during his freshman year as he began to sing in coffee houses around the University of Minnesota. He changed his name as a tribute to his favorite poet, Dylan Thomas.

Answer: Vincent Furnier

According to band legend, the name came to Furnier during a ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the same name.

Answer: Calvin Cordozer Broadus

His mother nicknamed him "Snoopy" as a child, and he took the stage name Snoop Doggy Dogg or Snoop Dogg when he began recording.

Answer: Barry Pincus

His name at birth was Barry Alan Pincus. However, he changed his last name to Manilow at age 13 (prior to his Bar Mitzvah). By the way, Manilow is his mother's maiden name.

Answer: Georgios Panayiotou

A lyric of his refers to a name change;
"I changed my name
to be rid of the things that I want from you.
It's strange,
but a name is a name and the truth is the truth".

Answer: Natalie McIntyre

When Macy Gray was asked about the origin of her stage name , she replied, "Macy Gray is a good friend of my dad's. He's this old man that used to live next door to me, and he used to come up and talk to me. I always remembered it because everybody always called him by his whole name. Like they'd say, 'Macy Gray is outside' or 'Macy Gray is coming over' or 'Where's Macy Gray?' They never said Macy or Mr. Gray, so his name always stuck with me.

He was real cool to me."