Based on more than twenty years of research by a professional journalist, this music reference is an A-Z guide of the stars and groups of today and yesterday. Mark Beech's previous book, The A-Z of Names in Rock, generated over fifty radio interviews, fifteen articles, seven features in nationals and two serializations. This extended and updated version covers more genres than just rock (e.g. pop, punk, indie, reggae, soul, country, blues, folk, jazz, heavy metal, grunge, and rap artists and bands) and will appeal to music fans internationally, as well as being the must-buy book for pub quiz fans. With almost 3,000 entries, it's a chance to discover why artists chose their names—and which ones shouldn't have. An informative and often humorous read, "the world's leading expert on music names" (BBC), Mark Beech, returns with another bestseller. The Kinks—Ray Davies said it was in honour of their "kinky boots, similar to those worn by Honor Blackman in The Avengers." Bono (Paul Hewson KBE)—The U2 frontman, also known as Bono Vox, named after Bona Vox hearing aids.