4 Under-the-Radar Alter Egos Taken by Famous Artists

Sometimes an artist has so much creative ability there isn’t enough for one moniker. Sometimes they have to split off into several different personalities in order to get it all out. Sometimes they want to dabble in new sounds or other times they just have a different bent or slant to put on songs and they don’t otherwise fit under their more well known umbrella.

Here below, we wanted to explore four such cases. Four famous musical artists who have under-the-radar alter egos that you may have forgotten about given their highly successful output.

[RELATED: 5 Artists Who Have Killed Their Alter Egos]

Paul McCartney, aka Percy “Thrills” Thrillington

In 1971, Paul McCartney and his wife Linda released the album Ram. And in 1977, McCartney released an instrumental version of that LP, which he called Thrillington. But he didn’t release it under his own name. Instead, he used the moniker Percy “Thrills” Thrillington. The Thrillington album, however, wasn’t a big success and it was a dozen years later when the former Mop Top shared he was, in fact, Percy Thrillington and also Clint Harrigan, the author of the album’s liner notes. It would seen that when you’re as successful as McCartney in music, you have to make up some bizarre pseudonyms to keep yourself entertained.

Hank Williams, aka Luke the Drifter

The prolific, albeit short-lived career of country icon Hank Williams featured more than 150 songs. For Williams, who died at just 29 years old on New Year’s Day 1953, much of that music was about love and the good and bad times that can spring of it. But he also released talking blues songs under the pseudonym Luke the Drifter, which had a sense of morality to them. The alter ego began in 1950 at the behest of record company executive Fred Rose, who was worried fans may want to hear Williams but then get a more pious offering. Luke the Drifter was supposed to be secret, but Williams ended up performing some of the songs from stage.

Prince, aka Camille

Over the years Prince went by many names, including by just a symbol later in life. But in 1986, he recorded an album named after his androgynous alter ego Camille, which included vocal recordings done at a slower speed and then re-pitched to sound more like a woman. Many of the songs from Camille ended up on his 1987 Sign O’ The Times LP, including “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” but that wouldn’t mark the end of his Camille alter ego. She also appeared on his never-released record The Black Album, which included other Prince monikers like Bob George and Spooky Electric.

Nicki Minaj, aka Roman Zolanski

“Roman is a crazy boy who lives in me,” says bodacious rapper Nicki Minaj. “And he says the things that I don’t want to say. … I think he was born out of rage.” The “violent” alter ego of the lyricist has featured on some of Minaj’s songs, including “Roman’s Revenge” and “Roman Reloaded.” And Roman’s “mother,” Martha Zolanski, is another alter ego of Minaj’s. Indeed, the Trinidad and Tobago-born rapper has upwards of a dozen alter egos.

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