Do singers/ songwriters ever take up stage names when they create for different genres and should I?

Do you want one long, comprehensive resume that shows all kinds of breadth and variety or a bunch of little short resumes each of which shows that you are capable of completing one thing? I think that’s the kind of question I’d be asking myself.

As far as song writing I think that having a portfolio under one name with different projects is an asset.

Regarding singing- branding is ever so important. If you change names for each project you will have a hard time keeping up with the facebook and other venues. To build ONE brand is a LOT of work.

My suggestion is to write and sing under one name unless some of the work is offensive.

Yes, I do. I also have a different stage name when I sing a different genre because I don’t want people to come to a concert expecting one thing and getting another. Even if they know I’m the same guy, they’ll know that I’ll be singing different songs under the alias.

I guess it depends on how different it is. You could actually have a successful career as a “versatile songwriter, with tunes ranging from Beethoven’s 5th to “Where have all the Flowers Gone?_ and even Who let the Dogs Out?”. Imagine if someone had written all three. Or you could simply keep them separate.

But at the end of the day, it’s all about the quality of each individual tune. Write good songs, and people won’t care if your name is Niki, Sally or Elton John.

The first example that comes to mind is the band Incubus. After their album Wish You Were Here released in 2001, the band decided to take a short break. Member Mike Einzinger decided that he was interested in pursuing music with different roots, so together with several other members of Incubus he formed a new side band, known as Time Lapse Consortium, in 2003. The two bands have significantly different styles, although they do seem to pander to the same audiences.

So yes, this sort of this does happen, but I agree with @Jeruba in that it all really depends on how you want people to see you.

An awful lot of electronic musicians release tracks under multiple names and labels, mainly so that some DJ record shopping isn’t going to ignore the new record on the strength of the last record because it’s not the genre they play did that make sense? it does to me but I’m a bit drunk and I know what I’m talking about

I remember that country singer Garth Brooks put out some pop music under a different name at one point. I can’t remember the name and I can’t say whether I would recommend doing something like this.