seems to me most current acts today have "alter ego" names. nikki minaj' - roman zolanki, lady gaga - jo caslderan, madonna - dita or ester, prince - camille among others.

now i read justin bieber as a "rapper" alter ego name - shawty Mane.......as far back as i can remember prince was "one of" or "the one" who started all of this - true? if so, was it just to be mysterious / and or dodge the media bullet in some way ? i think for so prince but most acts today clearly have far less talent....feels like their may be a little something else going on here.

talk to me.....

[Edited 7/9/12 12:39pm]

[Edited 7/9/12 12:40pm]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/...alter-egos

(See comments)

many times he didn't even give himself credit when he could have

the "jamie starr" productions were all WB releases -- he could've used "prince"

but besides that i think a lot had to with WB owning whatever "prince" worked on

thus the songwriter pseudonyms for prince songs released by artists on different labels

perhaps he could collect some royalties a bit more directly that way as well

plus, back before the internet it was easier for big name artists to surprise/trick people under a different name

probably was a good way to measure true criticism outside of bobble-heads repeatedly saying "everything prince does is fantastic"

on AOL he could tell the difference (i think) depending on what screen name he used

anyone have some good insight on why he used particular names?

SoulSplash said:

many times he didn't even give himself credit when he could have

the "jamie starr" productions were all WB releases -- he could've used "prince"

but besides that i think a lot had to with WB owning whatever "prince" worked on

thus the songwriter pseudonyms for prince songs released by artists on different labels

perhaps he could collect some royalties a bit more directly that way as well

plus, back before the internet it was easier for big name artists to surprise/trick people under a different name

probably was a good way to measure true criticism outside of bobble-heads repeatedly saying "everything prince does is fantastic"

on AOL he could tell the difference (i think) depending on what screen name he used

anyone have some good insight on why he used particular names?

I think it was mainly a way for him to keep from being pigeon-holed. When the first Time albums came out, Prince still hadn't had a major crossover hit. I think he was so intent on preserving his ability to do that one day, that he didn't want to use the name Prince on something as "black" (I use that as the term then in use for what is now called "urban" music) as The Time's albums.

Bowie and Clinton had alter-egos before Pricne started doing them