48 Musicians and Their Real Names

Famous people have a certain way of shedding their regular-person identity to create a more ~engaging~ persona for fans. It’s, like, a thing—we don’t make the rules. An easy way they usually do this (or, LBH, the way their *people* make them do this) is by coming up with a super-creative and catchy stage name that everyone knows and loves them by. I mean, c’mon, did you reaaally think it was a cute lil cowinkydink that Alicia Keys plays the piano and has the “last name” Keys? Welp, I hate to break it to ya, it ain’t—it’s v much intentional. But she’s just one of the many musicians out there who goes by another name professionally—there are lots more! Keep reading below to discover those you thought you knew and those who will completely shock ya.

The Ones You Probs Knew Already

  • Nicki Minaj: Onika Tanya Maraj
  • Lady Gaga: Stefani Joanne Germanotta
  • Miley Cyrus: Destiny Hope Cyrus
  • Jay-Z: Shawn Carter And if you have The Black Album, you know his birth date too.
  • Rihanna: Robyn Rihanna Fenty
  • Drake: Aubrey Drake Graham
  • Queen Latifah: Dana Owens She actually has an album called The Dana Owens Album, so if you didn’t already know, you just weren’t paying attention.
  • Eminem: Marshall Mathers III See number 6.
  • Wiz Khalifa: Cameron Jibril Thomaz
  • Lil Wayne: Dwayne Carter Jr.
  • TLC: Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas

    • The Ones That Make You Say, “Hmm, Interesting”

  • Pink: Alecia Moore This was a question at bar trivia the other day, so keep it in your back pocket for future reference.
  • Nelly: Cornell Iral Haynes Jr.
  • Lana Del Rey: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant
  • John Legend: John Roger Stephens
  • Fergie: Stacy Ann Ferguson
  • Katy Perry: Katheryn Hudson She changed it to avoid confusion with Kate Hudson the actor.
  • Michelle Williams: Tenitra Michelle Williams
  • Kelly Rowland: Kelendria Trene Rowland
  • Frank Ocean: Christopher Breaux
  • Alicia Keys: Alicia Augello Cook
  • Jason Derulo: Jason Desrouleaux
  • Lil Jon: Jonathan Smith
  • Ricky Martin: Enrique Martin Morales
  • M.I.A.: Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam
  • Kendrick Lamar: Kendrick Lamar Duckworth

    • The Ones Who Really Went for It

  • Snoop Dogg: Calvin Broadus Jr.
  • Pitbull: Armando Christian Pérez
  • Ludacris: Christopher Brian Bridges
  • Iggy Azalea: Amethyst Amelia Kelly
  • Avicii: Tim Bergling
  • Zedd: Anton Zaslavski
  • Aloe Blacc: Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III
  • 50 Cent: Curtis James Jackson III
  • Deadmau5: Joel Thomas Zimmerman It’s not a good fake name till it’s got a number in it, amirite?
  • Skrillex: Sonny John Moore
  • The-Dream: Terius Youngdell Nash LBH, is the hyphen really necessary?
  • Future: Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn
  • Timbaland: Timothy Mosley
  • Lorde: Ella Yelich-O’Connor
  • Grimes: Claire Elise Boucher
  • Diplo: Thomas Wesley Pentz
  • Bruno Mars: Peter Gene Hernandez
  • Charli XCX: Charlotte Emma Aitchison
    • Eyewear, Vision care, Glasses, Goggles, Hairstyle, Sunglasses, Photograph, White, Mammal, Style, pinterest

    Srsly, WTF?

  • Calvin Harris: Adam Richard Wiles Why make this drastic a name change if you’re not going to at least add a number or a useless hyphen?
  • Macklemore: Ben Haggerty
  • Redfoo and SkyBlu of LMFAO: Stefan Gordy and Skyler Gordy
  • Shania Twain: Eilleen Regina Edwards

    • And the Totally Real

  • Madonna: Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone
  • Beyoncé: Beyoncé Giselle Knowles
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