Music’s most astonishing alter egos, from Ziggy Stardust to Madame X
The Weeknd showed by committing to his bloodied and bandaged “After Hours” persona, some pop stars like to play make-believe as much as they like to play music.For some, that has meant creating an alter ego, whether it’s Eminem’s dark Slim Shady, Beyoncé’s ferocious Sasha Fierce or Mariah Carey‘s liberated Mimi. “It’s kind of like when I do a movie, becoming a character,” Beyoncé told Oprah.Here are five artists who took their transformations to the next level, and whose invented characters commanded nearly as much attention as the stars themselves.Bowie was the king of all pop chameleons, morphing from the flame-haired Aladdin Sane — a spin on “A Lad Insane” — to the clean-cut Thin White Duke with the greatest of ease.