Music News: Several More Artists Change Their Names, Along With Lady Antebellum

As racial slurs and indoctrination are brought to the forefront of our culture, more and more musicians are rethinking their original stage names. Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A because of the antebellum connotations associated with the era of slavery [read more about this here]. Others are following suit. These name changes include, but are not limited to:

The Dixie Chicks – County band “The Dixie Chicks” is now known simply as “The Chicks.”

“‘Dixie’ was often used as a nickname for the southern states during the US Civil War era. The band’s Martie Erwin Maguire recently told BBC Radio 4’s Front Row: ‘As race relations have been really tense in the US and in other countries, we’ve really put a microscope on that word ‘Dixie’ and it felt uncomfortable… We just don’t want to have any association with something that can be hurtful to a group of people‘” (bbc.com).

Record Label – One Little Indian: A label which released music from Paul McCartney’s side project, as well of tunes of Bjork, is now known as One Little Independent. This change came after a fan explained to founder Derek Birkett why the name was offensive.

DJ Joey Negro: This artist dropped his stage name and is now going by his birth name, Dave Lee. He notes that he had “not felt comfortable with the name Joey Negro for a while, especially as [he] got older”

He continued:

“I understand now though that it’s not appropriate for me to carry on using the name.”

“I’ve recently received emails, tweets etc saying that it is unacceptable and people find it out of place in 2020 – and I agree. I’m sorry to have caused any offense. My whole life has been about music but particularly black music, I love soul, funk, disco, jazz in a way that’s impossible for me to articulate in words and I have tried to champion it with the best intentions.”

DJ The Black Madonna – She is now “The Blessed Madonna” and wrote, “My artist name has been a point of controversy, confusion, pain and frustration that distracts from things that are a thousand times more important than any single word in that name. We all have a responsibility to try and affect positive change in any way we can.”

Do you know of any other musicians who have recently changed their stage names? Comment below.

Cover Photo:

@lgnwvr via unsplash.com