MKA: Musicians Known As Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bono

Paul David Hewson was born in Dublin, Ireland, on May 10, 1960 and became part of the band that was to become U2 while at school. The name Bono was given to him by a friend. It comes from the Latin word "bonavox", meaning good voice. (A little ironically, years later Bono confessed he did not like his own singing voice.)

With more than 175 million record sales, U2 became one of the top-selling bands around. Among those were 10 number one albums in the UK and eight in the USA all between 1983 and 2023. In Ireland they had seven successive number one albums from 1987's "The Joshua Tree". This, incidentally, was their first in the USA and became their top selling with worldwide sales of 25 million.

Answer: P!nk

Alecia Beth Moore was born on September 8, 1979, in Doylestown Township, Pennsylvania. The stage name, Pink, or P!nk, was a childhood nickname because, she said, "I blushed so much". Her singing career began at the age of 13 on the Philadelphia club scene. A record company executive spotted her and asked her to audition. A record deal followed and her 2000 debut album "Can't Take Me Home" was the source of three 10 ten hits.

Pink had three number one singles and four number one albums in the UK and four Hot 100 number one singles and three number one albums on the Billboard 200, all between 2012 and 2019.

Answer: Lady Gaga

Stefani Joanne Germanotta was born on March 28, 1986, in Manhattan, New York City. One of her musical heroes was the Queen front man Freddie Mercury and her stage name references one of their biggest hits, "Radio Gaga" (1984).

Lady Gaga chased up six UK number one singles between 2009 and 2020 and four chart-topping albums in the same period. In the USA she topped the Hot 100 five times between 2008 and 2020 (not all as a solo artist) and the Billboard 200 six times between 2011 and 2020. One 2023 list put her 8th among the 30 top-selling female artists of all time, with sales of over 124 million.

Answer: Lana Del Rey

Manhattan, New York City, has been the birthplace of many fine singers and songwriters, including Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, who was born there on June 21, 1985. Her stage name was chosen to be exotic and to remind her of the coast of Florida. Del Rey has named Kurt Cobain as one of her influences and has also conceded she is not a great live performer.

Lana Del Rey had five singles enter the UK top 10 either as a solo artist or with others between 2012 and 2019, with five of her albums taking the top spot in their charts between 2014 and 2021. She had Hot 100 top ten hits in 2013 and 2017 with other singers and had albums top the Billboard 200 in 2014 and 2017.

Answer: Deadmau5

Joel Thomas Zimmerman was born on January 5, 1981, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Some people choose their own professional names, but Joel Thomas Zimmerman had his thrust upon him by his friends after he found a dead mouse inside a computer he was repairing.

Deadmau5 was noted as a good live performer while three successive albums 2012, 2014 and 2016 topped the US Dance Charts. In his native Canada he had a number seven album in 2010, a number two in 2012, and a number five in 2014.

Deadmau5 formed his own recording label in 2007 and became one of the world's highest paid electronic music producers. In most performances Deadmau5 wore a helmet that generated LED patterns.

Answer: Grimes

Claire Elise Boucher is another Canadian on our list. She was born on March 17, 1988, in Vancouver, British Columbia. She just liked the look of her new name, thinking it suited her musical type, Grime.

Boucher, a one-time partner of Elon Musk, released a number of albums that the critics liked, but found mixed success on the charts. Her fifth album, "Miss Anthropocene" (2020), was well received by the critics, even if it took three years to make. It used themes of climate change and peaked at number 10 in the UK and number 32 in the US, the best performances among those first five LPs.

Answer: Lorde

Ella Yelich-O'Connor was born on November 7, 1996, in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. She thought that adding an e to 'Lord" would give her stage name an aristocratic look. A child protege, Lorde signed to her first record company at the age of 13.

Her first three albums reached the top 20 in the UK and USA, as well as hitting number one in New Zealand and in Australia. Her single "Royals" was number one in all four territories in 2013. In 2013 she became the youngest person ever to be nominated for a 'Record of the Year' Grammy. She won two Grammy Awards the following year.

Answer: Jay Z

Another native of New York City, this time Brooklyn, Shawn Carter was born on December 4, 1969. The stage name reflects the nickname "Jazzy" friends had given him.

The rapper and producer established a new record for the most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 - 13 at the time in 2004. (Technically three were collaborations with R. Kelly and Linkin Park, and a 14th chart topper was to follow in collaboration with Kanye West in 2011). His albums also charted well in Canada, but he had to wait until 2013 for his first chart-topper in the UK.

He also had US number one singles in collaboration with other singers in 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2009.

Answer: Freddie Mercury

Born on September 5, 1946, in Zanzibar, an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, Farrokh Bulsara took the childhood name he was known as - Freddie - and aligned it with the planet Mercury to reflect his interest in astronomy. (Did you see what I did there?)

Queen, with Mercury as frontman between 1969 and 1991, had two number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Six singles topped the charts in the UK, while 10 of their albums hit number one.

In a New Year's Day poll "to determine the greatest British band of all time" by the BBC in 2007, radio listeners were asked to rank five British bands. The 20,000 who voted rated Queen top, the Beatles second, Rolling Stones third, Oasis fourth, and Take That fifth.

After Mercury's death in 1999, two other Queen members, Brian May and Roger Taylor, kept the spirit alive by performing initially with Paul Rodgers as lead singer and later with Adam Lambert. Original drummer John Deacon went into retirement after Mercury's death, saying it would not be the same without their flamboyant original front man.

Answer: Fergie

A native of the Golden State, Stacy Ann Ferguson was born on March 27, 1975, in Los Angeles. I guess just about anyone with the name Ferguson gets it shortened to "Fergie" at one time or another.

Fergie gained a lot of experience singing and dancing on the TV show "Kids Incorporated" for six seasons beginning in 1984. She was just nine years old when she started.

She was a member of the Black Eyed Peas between 2003 and 2006, and afterwards, as a solo artist, she had three chart-topping US singles from her first album, "The Dutchess", in 2006. Two other singles from the album reached the top 10.

Answer: Freebo

Daniel Friedberg was born on March 5, 1944, in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. He adopted the name Freebo early in his career - and if anybody knows why, please let me know! He was a former champion tuba player with the West Pennsylvania State Marching Band, and was a member of the Edison Electric Band in the 1970s.

A multi-talented singer, musician and producer, in a 40-year career he had a long touring and recording association as bassist with Bonnie Raitt for 10 years, and played session musician for some of the top artists around. In later years he was an accompanist, song-writing partner, and producer for the very talented Alice Howe. He also released several albums as a solo artist. (This author was listening to Freebo's superb album, "If Not Now, When?" (2015), while compiling this quiz.

As well as playing on albums by Bonny Raitt and Alice Howe, he backed many other singers, including, Maria Muldaur, John Mayall, Ringo Starr, Dr. John, and Neil Young. His musical styles encompassed folk, rock and blues and he released his own albums "The End Of The Beginning" (2000), "Dog People "(2002), "Before The Separation" (2006), "Something to Believe "(2011), and "If Not Now When" (2015).

Answer: Frank Ocean

Starting out on the 'left coast' of the USA, Christopher Breaux was born on October 28, 1987, in Long Beach, California. His stage name was said to be inspired by Frank Sinatra's 1960 movie "Oceans 11".

He was signed by a record label in 2005, but changed his name to Frank Ocean in 2015. He has been quoted as saying :"For me, the genesis of that name change came from me trying to make a project without my label knowing about it. It was born from a need." [source: essence.com, December 2020.]

Ocean released two accomplished and big-selling LPs before 2016, although his 21 singles fared less well. 'The Guardian' said his 2016 album "Blonde" was "one of the most baffling, contrary and intriguing records put out by a major pop star".

Answer: Avicii

From the New World to the Old, Tim Berling was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on September 8, 1989. His stage name references the afterlife ("Avīci") in Buddhist mythology.

Tim Bergling cut his teeth on social media platforms with his electric sic remixes. A recording deal followed and his debut single "Levels" was a top 10 hit across Europe. This quiz author knows from experience that "Levels" gets the home crowd buzzing at Heart of Midlothian football games.)

Meanwhile, "Wake Me Up" hit the top spot in nine European countries in 2013. He had six more number ones in his native land. Avicii died in 2018 in Muscat, Oman.

Among his songs, "Levels" featured in "The Lego Movie" in 2014 and "Under The Electric Sky" in the same year. "You Make Me" was featured on TV's "Love Island" and "Hey Brother" was on "Jersey Shore".

Answer: Eminem

Marshall Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri. The professional name came from his initials. By 2019, Eminem became the best selling solo rapper of all time. Several critical lists have named him as "the best rapper of all time".

Ten of his songs topped the UK singles charts between 2000 and 2013 - that's twice as many as topped the Hot 100 in his native land (five between 2002 and 2013. In 2022 RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) reported that Eminem had gained top spot on its list of 'the best-selling music artists based on sales of singles in the US' - 166 million.

Answer: Aphex Twin

Probably only someone born in Ireland could take the step of adopting a stage name from an audio company, in this case Apex Systems. Richard D. James was born in Limerick on August 18, 1971, but was largely raised in Cornwall.

His electronic music received critical acclaim. His top charting album was "Collapse", which reached number 11 in the UK in 2018. In 2015, "Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2" topped the US Dance Charts.

In a 2022 article for 'Far Out' magazine, Jordan Potter described Apex Twin's style as "the epitome of experimental music." He put him in a category of pioneering writer in the style of Brian Eno.

It also said that Apex Twin's music influenced a change in direction by Radiohead into electro-rock. He was not impressed, telling one interviewer: "I don't like them. I heard maybe five or six tracks, and I thought they sounded really really cheesy."