20 superstar musicians who famously adopted alter egos

It was back in 2008 when Beyoncé introduced the world to her alter ego Sasha Fierce. Her third album titled I Am… Sasha Fierce featured hit songs like “If I Were a Boy,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” In a previous interview with Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé described Sasha Fierce as a bolder and more confident person that she turns into when she’s performing on stage.

David Bowie brought his alter ego Ziggy Stardust to life with his 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Since Ziggy was portrayed as a liberated rock star from outer space, Bowie ensured that his fashion sense embodied glam rock to new levels. 

Shock G was the frontman of hip-hop collective Digital Underground, a group that released hit songs like “The Humpty Dance.” This is the track in which Shock G’s alter ego Humpty Hump was introduced. During performances, Shock G would wear a disguise consisting of a fake nose and glasses and alter his voice to achieve a more nasal tone. 

Eminem introduced his alter ego Slim Shady very early on in his career. Although Eminem has always been the type of rapper to speak his mind, Slim Shady’s persona was more vile, blunt, and provocative. 

While Tupac was in prison, he took a liking to philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli after reading his book The Prince. After relating to some of the philosopher’s ideals and world views, Tupac took on the alias of Makaveli. In an interview with Vibe magazine, Tupac explained why he took on the name, "That's what got me here, my reading. It's not like I idolize this one guy, Machiavelli. I idolize that type of thinking—where you do whatever's necessary to achieve your goal. So now I'm not on no bull**t or anything; I'm gonna change the rules in this rap game.”

In 1999, singer Garth Brooks wanted to take a step away from his country music side and explore more of a rock genre. On his album Garth Brooks in… the Life of Chris Gaines, he takes on the persona of fictitious rock singer Chris Gaines. The alter ego was short-lived after financial and management woes led Brooks to scrap the film idea he wanted to showcase his new persona.

Fans got to see different sides of the rapper T.I. in 2007 when he released his fifth album T.I. vs. T.I.P. This album showcased T.I.’s smoother side on songs like “My Love” and “Why You Wanna,” whereas T.I.P. shows more of his aggressive side on songs like “Bring Em Out” and “You Don’t Know Me.” The cool thing about how this album shows a competition between the two, fans have a chance to pick which side they want to be on. 

Nicki Minaj has always been the type of rapper who can embody different characters, but her most prominent alter ego is Roman Zolanski. This alter ego is characterized as someone who’s more brash, audacious, and outspoken than Nicki’s true self. Zolanski is heard on tracks like “Roman’s Revenge,” which also features Eminem’s alter ego Slim Shady. 

Lady Gaga has always been the type of artist to go against the grain and do things her way, and fans never truly know how Gaga is going to show up during her public appearances. Back in 2010, Lady Gaga introduced her alter ego Jo Calderon, a drag king who embodied the different qualities she saw in men at the time. 

Throughout Megan Thee Stallion’s career, she has often referred to herself as her alter ego Tina Snow. Megan has long been a Pimp C fan, a fellow Texas rapper whose alter ego was known as Tony Snow. Taking inspiration from him, Megan flipped the name to showcase how other female MCs can take on a cooler and confident appeal with a laidback flow.

David Johansen was famously known as the lead singer of the proto-punk band the New York Dolls. After the band broke up, Johansen took on the alter ego of a suave lounge singer known as Buster Poindexter. With this character, Johansen would show up in a tuxedo and a pompadour hairdo, singing hit songs like “Hot Hot Hot.” 

Janelle Monae has always been the type of artist who gets creative in doing things her way. She took on the alter ego of Cindi Mayweather very early in her career when she released her debut EP Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase). In an interview with MTV, Monae discussed the concept behind Cindi’s persona: “Cindy is an android and I love speaking about the android because they are the new 'other'. People are afraid of the other and I believe we're going to live in a world with androids because of technology and the way it advances. The first album she was running because she had fallen in love with a human and she was being disassembled for that.”

Green Day has been releasing music since the early ‘90s, but it was in the early 2000s when they took on the persona known as The Network. However, The Network’s bandmates consisted of more members who often don masks and speak with accents and assumed different names. For the longest time, The Network claimed they had no affiliation with Green Day, even though many fans knew it was them. It wasn’t until 2013, when bassist Mike Dirnt revealed in an interview that The Network was indeed Green Day.

Some people may know Donald Glover as an actor and comedian, however, his rap alter ego is known as Childish Gambino. Glover has told the story many times that the Gambino nickname derived from putting his real name into the Wu-Tang Clan’s name-generator tool. Although Glover has seen quite the success with the Gambino name, including several Grammy Awards, back in 2024 he stated that he would be retiring the moniker. 

Will Oldham is the type of singer who has had many aliases, but his most prominent one was Bonnie “Prince” Billy. His sound blends the likes of folk, country rock, and indie, and he has stated that he used different monikers to help connect with his audiences. 

Snoop Dogg has never shied away from reinventing himself as an artist and it was no different in 2012 when he took on a new stage name. Taking a break from hip-hop music, the rapper was inspired to get into his reggae bag and introduced himself as Snoop Lion as promotion for his album Reincarnated. 

In 2006, R&B singer Tyrese released his double album properly titled Alter Ego. On the second disc is where Tyrese introduces Black-Ty to the world, his rap persona. Although the hip-hop side of the album featured big names such as Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Too $hort, and The Game, fans probably would’ve appreciated the album more if Tyrese had stuck to his usual R&B vocals. 

Prince took on many names throughout his career, but in 1986, he recorded music under his alias Camille. With this alter ego, Prince would have vocal recordings in which his voice was re-pitched at a higher octave to sound more like a woman’s voice. Camille’s voice can be heard on songs across the Sign O’ The Times album. 

Tyler, The Creator is the type of artist who elevates and enters different eras with each album. Back in his early career days, he would take on the alter ego of Wolf Haley, the main character on Tyler’s third album WOLF. Tyler has referred to Wolf Haley being more of the idealized version of himself. 

P-Funk legend George Clinton took on the role of many alter egos, one of which was Dr. Funkenstein. With his bands Parliament and Funkadelic, he and his bandmates created a whole universe of Afrofuturism that played into their characters. With the alter egos, the band played into the storytelling with galactic-themed dancers, fashion, and a spaceship that was part of their live stage performances.