Everybody knows that before you settle on a band or stage name
you need to make sure you're able to use it - right? Mookie
Blaylock? The Saboteurs? Rüfüs Du Sol? Flowers? Kyuss
Lives!? The Temper Trap? Shihad? and more recently Lady A and The
Chicks? Music history is replete with examples of artists and bands
pivoting to alternate names for all manner of reasons.
There are those who favour a persona or professional name over
their actual names - for instance, Elton John (Reginald Kenneth
Dwight), Sting (Gordon Sumner), Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta), Jay
Z (Shawn Carter), P!nk (Alecia Moore), Lorde (Ella Marija Lani
Yelich-O'Connor), Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus Jr.) or Pitbull
(Armando Christian Pérez), those who have simply run with
their first names Madonna and Prince (or the Artist formerly known
as .), those who mix and match Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) and
then there those who just get on with it and keep it real like
Bruce Springsteen, allowing their fans to
