Same Name, Different Performer

Country singer John Anderson - the one I prefer!

 

And you could build a baseball team from players with the same names as musicians (Bob Welch, Dave Stewart, Jim Morrison, John Oates).

 

Not to mention Carlos Santana!

 

Also:
Paul Williams - British singer and musician. Member of Juicy Lucy, Tempest, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, I.O.U.

Paul Williams (aka Terry Day) - British composer and keyboard player. Works as a session player and composer for TV, radio and film.

Paul Williams - Jazz and R&B sax player, known for The Huckle-Buck.
He played sax in the Atlantic Records house band and was musical director for James Brown and Lloyd Price.
Later, he worked as a session player in NY and owned a booking agency.

"Big" Paul Williams (Real name: Paul Humphrey) - Bluegrass and gospel musician.
As a member of Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mountain Boys, he co-wrote the hit Hold Whatcha Got.
Was a member of Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Northside Trio and received a Grammy nomination with the Victory Trio.

Billy Paul (born Paul Williams) - Soul, R&B and Jazz singer, famous mostly for his worldwide hit Me And Mrs. Jones as well as the accompanying album 360 Degrees Of Billy Paul.

 

The bassist in Coven was named Oz Osbourne (and they had a song released in 1969 called Black Sabbath).

 

Engelbert Humperdinck the composer

Engelbert Humperdinck the singer

-edit- Cheepnik beat me to it

 

Apparently this guy is also named "Mike Love".





There oughta be a law! There can only be one:

 

Alan White, Yes drummer and Oasis drummer
Andy Bell, Erasure singer and Ride/Oasis guitarist/bassist/singer
Gene Simmons, Kiss bassist/singer and rockabilly singer (credited as Jumpin' Gene Simmons, but close enough)

 

John Paul Jones - Led Zeppelin
John Paul Jones - singer/songwriter
John Paul Joans (aka "J.P. Jones") - singer/comedian
+ probably lots of others

Mickey Finn - a '60s British band, although the same name was also used interchangeably with one of its members.
Mickey Finn - percussionist with Marc Bolan in the '60s and '70s
Mickie Finn - female singer from America

Mickey Waller - a British guitarist who was a member of (and later became the namesake of) The Mickey Finn
Micky Waller - drummer for the Jeff Beck Group and various '60s blues bands

 

Tony Thompson, drummer
Tony Thompson, singer

Jeremy Jordan, singer
Jeremy Jordan, actor
Jeremy Jordan, pornstar

Randy Jackson, forgotten Jackson
Randy Jackson, bassist

 

The Shondells - A Lafayette, Louisiana-based "Swamp Pop" group formed in 1962. Band members included pioneering Swamp Pop legend Rod Bernard, Warren Storm and Skip Stewart. The trio recorded several singles and an album in the mid-1960s, along with hosting a local weekly TV show.

The Shondells - A Niles, Michigan-based group, originally formed as The Echoes in 1959, later becoming Tom and the Tornadoes. According to Wikipedia, in 1964, lead singer Tommy Jackson (stage name: well, you know...) renamed the band The Shondells, partly in honor of singer Troy Shondell, known for his 1961 hit single, "This Time", partly because the name "sounded cool." The Shondells managed to score a regional smash hit in 1964 with...

Note the incorrect songwriting credit on the original 45 label.
It was actually co-written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich.

...however, after area radio airplay and the small record label's inability to secure national distribution, it faded into obscurity.

But...that was not the end of the story...the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Another one:

Don Cooper – early 1970s folkie with a couple of albums on the Roulette label (look for his song "Miss Georgia" — very good)

Don Cooper – former player and longtime pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox

 

Sid Barrett - Jazz bassist
Syd Barrett - Psychedelic Rock musician

 

Don Cherry -- free jazz trumpeter/early '60s pop singer
Jim Sullivan -- Prolific UK session guitarist and sitar player/American singer-songwriter who disappeared without a trace near Santa Rosa, New Mexico while on a cross-country drive
Brian Jones -- saxophonist with Jackie Lomax's Liverpool beat combo The Undertakers/Rolling Stones founder (to this day, people argue about which one played the saxophone solo on the Beatles' "You Know My Name," although most sources including Paul McCartney himself say it was the Stone)

 

George Clinton - Parliament-Funkadelic
George S. Clinton - songwriter and soundtrack composer

 

That's right... thank you for the correction

 

Bette Davis - Actress
Betty Davis - Singer

 

one changed his name and changed the world!

 

According to some sources jazz multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef's birth name was William Emanuel Huddleston (1920-2013), according to others it was William (Bill) Evans. No idea which one is correct. Two (other) jazz musicians named Bill Evans were/are the pianist (1929-1980) and the saxophonist (born 1958).

Two other artists with the same name were Carl Perkins: the jazz pianist (1928-1958) and the rockabilly singer (1932-1998). [edit] Just noticed that they've already been mentioned.

 

This Don Cherry



This Don Cherry



NOT THIS Don Cherry

 

Wendy Williams-talk show host
Wendy O. Williams-Plasmatics singer

 

OMG, WTF Don's suit!?

 

Multiple Williams, Evans and Stewart's are to be expected. But two "Brad Whitfords" is kind of surprising.

I mean they'll never be another artist named "Bruce Springsteen" or "John Bongiovi."

 

Nancy Wilson - the late jazz singer
Nancy Wilson - of the rock band, Heart

 

Joseph Williams, lead singer of Toto and son of composer John Williams