GRAY CHOSE STAGE NAME AFTER CHILDHOOD BIKE CRASH
MACY GRAY’s stage name is inspired by a fascinating moniker she spotted o n a mailbox she crashed next to while riding her bike as a little girl.
The I Try hitmaker’s birth name is Natalie Hinds, but after landing her record contract in the 1990s, the singer realised she needed a more inte resting handle for her stage alter-ego.
She picked Macy Gray, the name of an elderly man who lived in her neigh bourhood as a child, copying his memorable title to launch her career.
But the star later had to fend off a lawsuit from her angry namesake.
She tells Grazia magazine, "My real name is Natalie Hinds but when I wa s a kid in Ohio I fell off my bicycle and landed under a mailbox that sai d Macy Gray, an old man whose name stuck with me.
"Later, when I went into music, everyone had a stage name, so I took hi s. I think he tried to sue me, but couldn’t because names are public doma in."
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