vintage

More often than not, musicians invent their own names (or, in some cases, have them invented for them) - to sound cooler, to be easier to pronounce, to create a different persona. Whatever. In any case, there are piles and piles of popular musicians out there who aren’t using the names they were born with. Some of them are pretty obvious, some of them are shockers.

Here’s a list of 20. See which ones you can get - if you know any of them, drop me an email (rdewji AT yorku DOT ca) or leave a comment. I will reveal them all in a little while; you can see how you did and find out who the hell the rest of these people are!

I tried to pick pretty well-known musicians. Some of these are really obvious or well-known, others are totally obscure. Just remember: NO CHEATING! There are lists of these out there, but this is just for kicks.

Your list:

1. John Baldwin

2. Farrokh Bulsara
3. Robert Cummings
4. Reginald Dwight
5. Ernest Evans
6. Jacob Gershowitz
7. Frances Ethel Gumm
8. Charles Hatcher
9. Steveland Hardaway Judkins
10. Riley B. King
11. Donovan Philips Leitch
12. Declan Patrick MacManus
13. James Joseph McGuinn III
14. Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien
15. Karen Lee Orzolek
16. Ronald Bedford Scott
17. Richard Starkey
18. Sylvester Stewart
19. Gary Lee Weinrib
20. Robert Allen Zimmerman

July 22 - A handful in so far, the leader with eleven correct. A few of these are really stumping people. Keep goin’!

July 28 - I’m going to close this post soon. Thanks for your entries! If you’ve a hankerin’ to play, get your email in and I will soon post results and the answers. At least you can say you learned something.