Oct 23, 2008 1:32 pm US/Pacific
Beyonce Back As 'Sasha Fierce'
Pop Diva Takes Alter Ego Even Further On New Album
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Beyonce Knowles visits MTV's TRL at MTV studios in Times Square on Oct. 14, 2008, in New York City.
Brad Barket/Getty Images
Beyonce's new album won't exactly feature Beyonce. Instead, check out Sasha Fierce.
The R&B star's next release, expected to hit stores on Nov. 18, will be titled "I Am... Sasha Fierce" and focus on the Grammy award winning singer's bolder personality.
"I have someone else that takes over when it's time for me to work and when I'm on stage, this alter ego that I've created that kind of protects me and who I really am," Beyonce posted on her MySpace page.
"Sasha Fierce is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side and more glamorous side that comes out when I'm working and when I'm on the stage," said said, adding her softer side will be there too. "The double album allows me to take more risks and really step out of myself, or shall I say, step more into myself, and reveal a side of me that people only know me see."
Name changes are nothing new in the music business. Saul Hudson, Paul David Hewson and Curtis James Jackson might not register highly on the guest lists at any hot exclusive clubs, but Slash, Bono and 50 Cent are probably going to get inside just fine.
Some pop stars renew fame to their careers simply by adding nicknames to their billings, sometimes multiple times. Prince was that symbol everyone called The Artist Formerly Known As Prince until he switched back to being Prince (real name Prince Rogers Nelson). Sean John Combs became Puff Daddy, and P. Diddy, and Diddy and Puffy.
Garth Brooks created the character of Chris Gaines for both a concept album and a movie in 1999. The country superstar even went so far as to appear in a fake VH1 documentary about Gaines' troubled life and return to fame with a "greatest hits" album (all new pop songs sung by Brooks).
Early in his pop Care, David Bowie toured as the alien rocker Ziggy Stardust, frontman on the 1972 album Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Years later, Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, played against his fame and the music industry as the character of Slim Shady.
Today, young superstar Miley Cyrus performs as herself just as often as her TV character's alter ago, Hannah Montana.
Beyonce Knowles rose to fame as part of the pop group Destiny's Child. After branching out into a solo career, shortening her name and appearing in feature films, Beyonce began dating rapper Jay-Z and married in April 2008.
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