New Name, Same Stupid Face

The trials & tribulations of having a common name.

Growing up, I always hated my middle name: Cory. Apparently, it sounded vaguely "wimpy" to my underdeveloped, adolescent mind. It also had no real significance other than the fact that my mom had heard the name used on a soap opera in the late 70’s. Nicholas was also conceived with a similar method, but at least it came from a network television show (ABC’s “Eight Is Enough” had a character named Nicholas). Maybe it was the “Coreys” of the 80’s zeitgeist that tarnished the name in my mind’s eye: Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. At any rate, I always avoided sharing my middle name, as if that would somehow make me appear “manlier” (something I’ve still yet to accomplish).

Very casually walking down a street.

Early on in my music career, I was told by several “industry folks” that the name “Nick Young” was beneficial because it was impossible to mispronounce and easy to remember. Then came social media and the onslaught of streaming music, where anyone with a laptop and GarageBand could release a song on Spotify, etc (not a bad thing but something that’s complicated my “brand”). Suddenly, there were around 5 “Nick Youngs" making streaming music in the world and the all important algorithm couldn’t tell the difference between my indie rock/alt country/power pop and the children’s music sung by the British “Nick Young”. I’ve grown tired of constantly contacting my distributor to ask the streamers to separate my music from that of the other “Nick Youngs” so with the upcoming release of my first album in almost 9 years, I decided to start fresh.

I’ve never been a “Nicholas” (except for when I’m at jury duty or in kindergarten roll call) so I knew I wanted to stick with “Nick”. I considered “Nick C. Young” but that had been taken as a website domain. Finally, I settled on my actual name and it just so happened that not only were there no other musicians with that name, but I could also get the website domain and all of the social media “handles”, something I’d always desired. So while it will take some getting used to for me and my tens of fans, henceforth, my “professional” name is Nick Cory Young. But don’t worry, you can still call me “MR. Young”, it’s totally cool. Hugs & kisses, new record coming VERY soon.