The 15 Best Detroit Rock Star Aliases

Metro Detroit’s rock and pop stars have a long and storied tradition of stage names, nicknames and aliases. Here; in no particular order, are fifteen of the most famous and original.

Question Mark: Rudy Martinez, the lead singer of 60′s garage rock icons ? & the Mysterians, legally had his name changed to Question Mark. To this day Martinez still claims to be a Martian who lived with dinosaurs in a past life, and he never appears in public without his shades on.

Iggy Pop: James Newell Osterberg, Jr. got his nickname “Iggy” while working at a local metro area record store in the 1960′s. The name is a play on his first band The Iguanas.

Alice Cooper: At first Alice Cooper was just meant to be the name of the band that Vincent Damon Furnier fronted; however, he soon adopted it as his stage name.

Cub Koda: Michael Koda of Brownsville Station took his nickname “Cub” from the character “Cubby” on television’s Mickey Mouse Club

Leather Tuscadero: not so much a nickname, this is the name of the Happy Day’s character played by Detroit bread rocker Suzi Quatro. Stateside Quatro is probably better known for having played this TV show character then her actual musical accolades.

Madonna: again not so much a nickname since her actual birth given first name is Madonna Louise Ciccone. Madonna was named after her mother, who died of breast cancer when she was only five years old.

Kid Rock: Robert James Ritchie earned this moniker after spinning for Bo Wisdom of Groovetime Productions – Bo dubbed him “Kid Rock” after the fans told him they like to watch “that white kid rock”.

Eminiem: Marshall Bruce Mathers III created his own nickname, Eminem, which is pronounced M&M from his initials. He also has other various persona including Slim Shady.

Uncle Kracker: Matthew Lynford Shafer received the nickname “Kracker” from long time friend Kid Rock when he was just 13 years old.

Andrew W.K.: Ann Arbor native Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier’s shortened stage name obviously comes from the first letters of his two last names.

Queen Bee: Karen Neal has always been and always will be “Detroit’s delicious diva”.

Jack White: John Anthony “Jack” Gillis took the last name of long time Whites Stripe’s band mate Megan Martha White in 1996 after the two married.

Dick Valentine: this is the stage name that singer/songwriter Tyler Spencer goes by when he is in the band The Electric Six. Every current and former member of the Electric Six and it’s predecessor The Wild Bunch have a nickname.

Timmy Vulgar: Frontman for the defunct Clone Defects and psycho-punk Human Eye – Timathy Lampinen may very well have the best stage name on this list.

Deastro: Taken from the chrome doom G.I. Joe villain of the same name (but with a different spelling), this is just one of several names used by the talented Randolph Chabot Jr.