Music’s Ten Weirdest Alter Egos

By Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

This week there’s been escalating controversy over TikTok singer Mr. Fantasy and the Riverdale actor KJ Apa, who may or may not be using Mr. Fantasy as his musical alter ego. “Enough is enough,” Apa declared this week, in a social-media video attacking Mr. Fantasy for identity theft. He claimed the singer has “completely and utterly stolen my image.” Riiiight. But it’s a reminder of how much musicians love creating alter egos. There’s a long tradition of artists getting inspired by going incognito behind a new identity – especially when they lose perspective and go overboard. There’s grey area over what counts as an alter ego vs. what’s just a stage name, a side project, a costume, or a cute nickname. (Or in Madonna’s case, an English accent.) But here’s an unranked list of ten of the all-time weirdest — and best — music alter egos. As Ziggy Stardust would say, you can play the wild mutation as a rock & roll star.

• Ziggy Stardust

  Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

  Better known as: David Bowie

  Peak era: 1972

  Greatest hit: “Starman” on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

  Bowie spent years kicking around the London music scene, never tasting the stardom he knew was his destiny. So he invented a whole new rock star to play: an orange-haired omnisexual alien named Ziggy Stardust. The result: a classic concept album about the extraterrestrial “leper messiah” with the God-given ass. In Bowie’s mythology, Ziggy came down from outer space to save the Earth by letting the children boogie, with his glam band, the Spiders from Mars. “What I did with my Ziggy Stardust was package a totally credible, plastic rock & roll singer — much better than the Monkees could ever fabricate,” Bowie told Rolling Stone. “I mean, my plastic rock & roller was much more plastic than anybody’s.” 

  What happened?: Ziggy blew Britannia’s mind on Top of the Pops, rocking “Starman” with a blue guitar, on the night of June 6, 1972 — an instant international scandal. Ziggy made Bowie more notorious than he’d ever dreamed. He was never unfamous a day in his life after that, turning into Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, and countless other characters.