Don’t forget Joe Strummer.
JEWISH ROCKERS’ ETHNIC
BIRTH NAMES REVEALED
Goy Stage Name / Jewish Birth Name
Manfred Mann (Mountain) / Manfred Lubowitz
Leslie West (Mountain) / Leslie Weinstein
Magic Dick (J. Geils Band) / Richard Salwitz
Elliot Easton (Cars) / Elliot Steinberg
Phoebe Snow (singer) / Phoebe Laub
Janis Ian (folk singer) / Janis Fink
Carole King (songwriter) / Carole Klein
Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction) / Perry Bernstein
Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac) / Peter Greenbaum
Gene Simmons (KISS) / Chaim Witz
Paul Stanley (KISS) / Stanley Eisen
Robby Krieger of The Doors is jewish.
Would Lenny Kravitz actually qualify? His mother, Roxie Roker, was not born Jewish and therefore Lenny isn’t really Jewish, at least if you follow Orthodoxy.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Courtesy of Dave Marsh:
Al Kooper
Marc Bolan
Randy California (Spirit)
Dick Dale
Peter Wolf
Zal Yanovsky (Lovin’ Spoonful)
Karla Bonoff
Lotte Golden
Leslie Gore
Ellie Greenwich
Leah Kunkel
Bette Midler
Genya Raven
Paul Shaffer (Letterman’s bandleader)
Peter Himmelman (Dylan’s son-in-law)
I thought Mick Jones was jewish, not Joe Strummer.
Charlie Watts is jewish and so is Beck.
You are allowed to convert you know, so all is not lost. 
;j
Yes, he’d qualify, as non-orthodox Jews are still Jews.
Any cite for that? It seems a bit unlikely to me.
There are a few sites referring to a “list of jews” and he’s on it. I’ll try to find a more authoratative site in a bit.
One of Courtney Love’s parents is Jewish. I think it’s her mother.
Well, the rest of that list looks right, so I guess they’re most likely right about Charlie, too.
Iggy Pop
Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)
Bob Marley (Jewish dad, black mom)
Geddy Lee (Rush)
Pat Benatar
Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo is pretty rockin’ - I’ve seen him really maul some guitars.
I thought Dick Dale was Lebanese.
Doesn’t mean he can’t be Jewish as well. I don’t know if he is, but location isn’t a determining factor.
Tiny Tim, who appears on some of those Jewish musicians lists, was also Lebanese–his real name was Herbert Boutros Khaury. But he was Jewish on his mom’s side.
Actually, I’m already Jewish, I just don’t qualify as one of the “best rock musicians” as per the OP.
;j
The Beastie Boys’ Mike D (Mike Diamond), MCA (Adam Yauch), and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) are all Jewish.
My WAG is to include D.C. Berman, leader of a Pavement side project called The Silver Jews (along with Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich). I dunno if any of the Pavement guys (including Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg) is Jewish.
Aaron Freeman of Ween (he’s “Gene Ween”) certainly has a Jewish-sounding name. Ditto for singer-songwriter Randy Newman and bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson). There’s also Jon Fishman (drummer, formerly of Phish) and white-hot producer David Fridmann (Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips). Other possibilities OTTOMH: Chris Stein (Blondie), the late, great Mark Sandman (Morphine), Robert Schneider (Apples In Stereo)…
Perry Farrell…
That reminds me of a fun anecdote from a Jane’s Addiction show I went to (way back on their Nothing’s Shocking tour). There were a couple dozen skinheads doing a big circle-stomp thingamajig up front during the show, generally annoying everyone as they are wont. After one of the songs Perry stopped and started talking to them…
Perry: “What the hell are you? Do you think you’re cool or something?”
Skinheads yelling “yeah” and pumping fists in agreement
Perry:" You bunch of nazi idiots. You know I’m jewish? You realize that you’ve just paid money to come and dance for a jew?"
The crowd roars with laughter and starts cheering, skinheads look at each other in confusion.
Perry: “Get the fuck out. We aren’t playing until they’re gone.”
Security then ushered out the skinheads. ;j