Well, the Pink Floyd album The Wall is the story of a fictional rock star named “Pink”.
Chuck Berry characters get referenced a lot:
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Bye Bye Johnny - Chuck Berry
Brown-Eyed Handsome Man - Chuck Berry
Centerfield - John Fogerty
(“Rounding third and heading for home; He’s a brown-eyed handsome man” or something like that.)
You Can’t Catch Me - Chuck Berry
(“Here come a flat-top, he come cruisin’ up with me; then goes wavin’ goodbye in a little old souped-up jitney”)
Come Together - The Beatles
(“Here come old flat-top, he comes cruisin’ up with me…”)
And then the whole song Louie, Louie (various artists) is supposedly a narrative by the character created by Chuck Berry in Havana Moon.
Superman’s gotten a LOT of song references lately. Alas, gonna show my ignorance here by not actually knowing all the groups & song titles but there was “Pocket Full of Kryptonite (Jimmy Olsen Blues)”, another song by Ben Folds Five, a very new one by David Matthews &
I know there was one in the past 2-3 years I can’t think of the name or band or any lyrics of.
Btw, Yes, I know about Laurie Anderson’s Superman also. S
FriarTed: Three Doors Down - Kryponite and Five For Fighting - Superman were 2 recently released songs.
There’s this character called Slim Shady that pops up in a lot of songs.
Jenifa from De La Soul’s ‘Jenifa Taught Me’ is referenced in another 3 Feet High and Rising track (but I don’t remember which one).
In Blink 182’s Online Songs, Josie (from the earlier eponymous hit) is mentioned.
Rudolph in Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer (by a singing snowman whose name escapes me) and Run Run Rudolph by the oft mentioned C. Berry
Marilyn Monroe in Candle in the Wind and 1000 tribute sondgs.
In fact, any famous person you can bet are in many songs : e.g. JFK (in “Abraham, Martin, and John” & “We didn’t Start the Fire”)
Blue Öyster Cult has a recurring character named Suzy.
From the BÖC FAQ:
Bon Jovi has Tommy and Gina… in Livin’ on a Prayer and It’s My Life. They were a single line in the new song (… and Tommy and Gina, who never backed down).
I think Gina was his girl in Livin’ on a Prayer…
Kenny Rogers did at least one sequel to The Gambler. Charlie Daniels did a new version of Uneasy Rider.
I think Johnny B. Goode has been referenced in a few songs.
There’s Nancy…
The heroine of Deep Purple’s “Strange Kind of Woman”, turns up again on the Perfet Strangers in “Knocking at Your Back Door”…
(so we put her on the hit list/ of a common cunning linguist…)
Strange, I seem to recall Nancy dying at the end of “Strange Kind of Woman.”.
Tori Amos has a song called ‘Marianne’, about a girl she knew in high school - Marianne is also mentioned in ‘Sister Janet’. Not sure if that counts, though, since she was a real person rather than a character.
Elizabeth Bathory is the subject of the album Cruelty and the Beast by Cradle of Filth, and has a song named after her by at least one other black/death metal group. It’s hard to find, cause some call her Erzabet Bathori, which is how she would’ve pronounced it. She was some kind of noblewoman in some Eastern European country way back when, and apparently her thirst for blood was pretty legendary.
And of course there’s Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars.
An obscure one:
Singer Meri Wilson did a song about a rather sexy telephone repairman and then followed it up a while later with a song about a sexy meter-reader named Peter which she falls in love with. At the end of the second song it is revealed that Peter used to be her telephone man.
These are both more novelty tuned and can probably be heard on a Dr. Demento show or something similar.
She’s also in Hooks in You and From here to Eternity.
Virgin Steele also has a woman that comes into play in a number of different songs over different albums named Emalaith.
I’m sure theres plenty more that I know of but I don’t really pay attention to that type of thing when I listen to music.
Almost all of the songs in Rock Opera by The Who are about “Tommy.”
Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” both pertain to the same Figaro character.
Not just a song, exactly, I know.
… and REM’s “Superman” from Life’s Rich Pageant.
“I am… I am Superman, and I can do anything!”
… but then this begs the question of whether it qualifies under the OP or not. I’d say “no,” as Superman was not created as a character in any of these songs. He existed prior to their being written.
Tom Paxton’s Annie trilogy:
Annie’s Going to Sing Her Song
Has Annie Been In Tonight?
When Annie Took Me Home
Well there’s Jesus, from bothe Jesus Loves Me and (presumably) Jesus Built My Hot Rod. And from Drop Kick Me Jesus, Through the Goal Posts of Lfe.
Ray Stevens created Clyde the Camel for Ahab the Arab, then recycled him in Santa Claus is Watchin’ You.
And Santa Claus himself appears in a whole buncha songs…