#awndces

[beggarscantbevegans]

Actors Whose Names Didn't Change even Slightly #12:

When the one-off television play Prisoner And Escort was being planned, the writers had in mind a fierce, shouty warder absolutely perfect for Fulton Mackay to play. They couldn't think of the right name for the character till they realised they were thinking of him as Mackay in the meantime, and that seemed to work, so they asked the actor if he was ok with the character having his own surname. And he was.

Fulton Mackay went on to play Mr Mackay in all twenty episodes of the sitcom that arose from that play: Porridge. 

[beggarscantbevegans]

Acts Whose Names Didn't Change Even Slightly #9: Sugababes & Singers With Self-titled Songs #1, 2 & 3

Practically everyone remembers where they were when they heard about it. September 21 2009, a day we all knew would happen even while hoping against hope it never would: the day there were no original Sugababes left in the lineup. For that was the sad day when it was announced Keisha Buchanan had followed Mutya Buena out of the band, eight years after Buchanan had allegedly forced Siobhán Donaghy out.

The three original members got back together in 2011 as Mutya Keisha Siobhán, aka MKS. The name Sugababes has been vacant for a couple of months at time of writing, after the band split in September 2013.

Only Mutya Buena did anything of note while solo and she has the quite rare distinction for a singer of having her name in her song title, after featuring on Groove Armada's brilliant track "Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)". Many of us are grateful to that song for teaching us how to pronounce Moo-TEE-ya. The only other examples that spring to mind are Paula out of Paul & Paula, whose biggest hit was "Hey Paula"; and Prince with "My Name Is Prince".

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Things Whose Names Didn’t Change Even Slightly #8: (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66

It was always a risky business using Bobby Troup's 1946 song Route 66 as a set of instructions for getting "from Chicago to LA" because the placenames in it are quoted out of order for artistic purposes. But nowadays lawyers also advise stating "All information correct at time of going to press" at the end of your rendition, so as not to get sued by lost travellers, because Route 66 hasn't existed since 1985. Your modern day route would start on I-55 and end on the Rosa Parks Freeway, the final stretch of I-10 into Santa Monica.

Also, don't go around telling people Winona Ryder was named after the town in the song - she was named after a different Winona in Minnesota. And Janis Joplin wasn't named after Joplin, Missouri, either. She was named after, like, her dad's surname.  

[beggarscantbevegans]

Acts Whose Names Didn't Change Even Slightly #5:

Both Bob Dylan and Cliff Richard were connected with The Shadows - but not the same ones. Dylan did a few gigs in the 1950s playing piano for Bobby Vee, whose band was at one time called The Shadows (though not necessarily when Dylan was with them) like the band who backed Cliff as well as having loads of hits of their own.

The British band existed first but were called The Shadows second - changing their name from The Drifters when the US band of that name objected to their use of it. Bobby Vee first called his high school band The Shadows a few months earlier on the day Buddy Holly died, 03 Feb 1959.

[beggarscantbevegans]

Acts Whose Names Didn’t Change Even Slightly #4:

There have been at least two bands called Rapid Eye Movement but none had Michael Stipe in them or wrote The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight. The band from Athens, Georgia were just called R.E.M. - it didn't stand for anything.

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Acts Whose Names Didn’t Change Even Slightly #3:

Menudo was the boyband that would never die. Once you got too tall or too manly or hit your 16th birthday, you were out of there and replaced by fresh blood. They lasted 20 years using 30+ members, and along the way gave the world Ricky Martin. Then it all got messy, and they crossed over into a different gradual list -

Bands Whose Names Changed Very Slightly #11:

The torch was passed (ie the concept was sold) to a new band called MDO in 1997. Much later there was a new Menudo, not to be confused with the self-tribute act, a collection of former members called Menudo: La Reunion.

[beggarscantbevegans]

Acts Whose Names Didn't Change Even Slightly #1 & 2:

Not only had Shane Fenton & The Fentones split up before they got their big break, sadly their frontman (real name John Theakstone) had died. Undaunted, they got back together with a roadie as their new Shane, and had some hit singles.

A few years later the artist formerly known as the second Shane Fenton stepped in again, when the writer and performer of "My Coo Ca Choo" ducked out of promoting it after one tv appearance. And Bernard Jewry has been called Alvin Stardust ever since.

[The original Alvin was Peter Shelley - not the Buzzcocks guy but the one who later sang "Gee Baby" and the immortal "Love Me Love My Dog."]