Billy Idol’s real name is William Broad. So where did “Billy Idol” come from? There are two parts to the story. First of all, he was a terrible student in school and was considered very lazy by his teachers. After he failed a test, his teacher wrote on the paper, “William is idle.” He remembered that, and when it came time to find a stage name, he changed the spelling of “idle” and went with that. T
he second half of the story has to do with a lesbian club called Louisa’s, which was just off Oxford Street in London. Billy and his mates wanted to hang out there, but admission required a special membership card. His card read “Billy Idle.” When he started getting a little famous, he realized he needed to change I-D-L-E to I-D-O-L to avoid any confusion with Eric Idle, one of the guys in Monty Python. And it stuck.
© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Ad Choices
