Naming Names

I've been thinking about musical nicknames lately, and how just to earn a nickname seems to require some sort of legendary stature in the field. It's not like baseball, where scrubs like Tarzan Joe Wallis and Shooty Babbitt can carry around great handles. You've practically gotta be James Brown to get a great nickname as a musician.

So I decided to compile a little dictionary of nicknames, and of course I could use your help. I'm talking about full-blown epithets here, not weak sauce like "Keef" or "Moonie." Here's a handful:

The King: Elvis Presley
The Killer: Jerry Lee Lewis
The Genius: Ray Charles
The Godfather of Soul: James Brown
The Queen of Soul: Aretha Franklin
The Man in Black: Johnny Cash
The Tycoon of Teen: Phil Spector
The Big O: Roy Orbison
The Bard of Hibbing: Bob Dylan
Van the Man: Van Morrison
The Twelve-Year-Old Genius: Stevie Wonder
The Thin White Duke: David Bowie
The Boss: Bruce Springsteen
Slowhand: Eric Clapton
The Ox: John Entwistle
The Motor City Madman: Ted Nugent
Little Miss Dynamite: Brenda Lee
The Paul McCartney of Cleveland: Eric Carmen

Who else? I'm sure there must be plenty. Consider this a homework assignment, since I'm traveling for most of the next two weeks, and posting may be sporadic. It's kind of a shame, because we've been setting records here, with over 500 hits each of the past two days after an apparently very popular jazz site linked to my Hiram Bullock obit. Let's hope we don't lose that momentum.

Guest posts are always welcome, by the way. Send them c/o the author.