6 billion bodies and had 2 choose this 1

In my all honest opinion... No, there isn't anyone more talented then Prince. I honestly feel what Prince can't do. He could master if he chose to give the time and practice towards it. For example I think Prince could master the sax if he decided to dedicate himself too it. Why he hasn't I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with Prince not really getting into putting horn sections in his music still the mid 80's. Maybe not, who knows! But yes i feel that Prince is the most talented person.

P2daP said:

Little lungs. Breath spent better on words. Rhythm player.
[Edited 4/20/07 18:18pm]

Nope.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Very bright response Jacky

Christaro said:

I think there are several muscicians as talented as Prince the
thing about Prince is he is a bit of a jack of all trades good guitarist, dancer, singer,songwriter, multi instrumentalist , producer etc and he was fortunate to get good deal with a major label at a young age I think there are several songwriters or guitarists that are as talented or even more consistant but Prince seems to have his own uniqueness that makes him stand out in his era, he is up there but aint above everybody.

fathermcmeekle said:

...first good laugh I had today...

Yes, Sanjaya.

Christaro said:

Thanx . Once I opened myself to Prince, I've developed a fierce loyalty 4 him and doubt anyone can top our fav. multi-talented brilliant musician.

And 4 future reference, my name ends w/"ie" not "y".

I don't think Kate Bush is getting proper credit here...

* writes his own music
- She writes all her own music, and it is so intelligent, that you really have to read up on things to grasp what various tracks are about.

* plays 20+ instruments (and in most cases, plays all of the instruments on the album)
- Kate doesn't play all the instruments, but she does play quite a few. Although I love that Prince always plays all his own stuff, just because one doesn't want to, doesn't mean they aren't capable of performing.

* can really move bananadance
- She's a different dancer, but she was fantastic, and a highly influencial dancer for women and for the UK at the time.

* can make any genre [from pop & rock to hip-hop to rap to funk, etc.] sound awesome
- While she doesn't go genre to genre or anything, she is pretty much unclassifiable. It's just opinion, but I think that's equally as impressive.

* writes music from the heart (eye double-dog dare u on that one)
-Again, she's a brilliant writer. I would say the best songwriter of the 80's as far as lyrics go.

* cloaks the stage with his aura
- Kate Bush is said to be a fantastic stage performer. Unfortunately she didn't tour much, so there isn't a whole lot to go on.

It's all opinion, but I think the two are close. Kate Bush also produced all her albums once they let her, and had her hand in every aspect of her performances. Even down to costume design and casting for her tour. (she only did one) I'd say Prince would probably agree with me on this one too. Prince had Kate appear on the Emancipation album, and on another album included her in his list of thanks. He also appearred on one of her albums (Red Shoes). Even if she isn't "more talented" she's extremely talented nonetheless, and shouldn't just be disregarded.

Dylan and Lennon.

Se7en said:

[Edited 5/4/07 1:24am]


This question is all over the org in different guises. It's all so personal isn't it? I mean, I can't argue with a person who thinks Mccartney's lesser talent is shown in his lack of being able/willing to do the splits on stage.

He'll just have to take his award home from last night's classical music awards for classical album of the year, and just pray to god his 64 year old body loosens up enough over the coming weeks to finally get those legs apart and do those splits.

How he must rue the day he missed gym class back in 1753 when they taught that move. Probably goofing off writing Yesterday or Hey Jude.
[Edited 5/4/07 1:37am]

Tori Amos has stayed consistantly prolific as a songwriter and her quality-control has rarely faultered since her debut over fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years on from Prince's debut he was well and truly lost artistically.

She may not be a multi-instrumentalist, but she can do things to the piano that Prince could only dream of.

And have you seen her dance? Well, lets not go there...

Frank Zappa and Mike Patton.
the only two musicians in broadly understood world of rock/pop who rank higher than P on my list in regards to sheer untamed creativity.
David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and Tom Waits would be right after P.
[Edited 5/4/07 4:38am]

It´s interesting, there are so many great musicians out there, but few are as complete as Prince. Sometimes I see a great multi-instrumentalist who cant sing (like Marcus Miller), or write music. Other times, great songwriters that dont play more than 2 instruments or arrange so well.

Prince is indeed a great sowngwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and arranger. In this kind of versatility, I think few can be that great. Paul Mc Cartney and Stevie Wonder are the only ones that come to my mind in 20th century.

(I am talking about music only, not splits or record sales)

There are a lot of very talented names being mentioned on here. Regardless of who is the most talented (if there is such a thing, I guess it's about opinions) isn't it great that we have them all to listen to. Prince, Beatles,Bowie, Zappa,Hendix, Wonder, Patton, Tori Amos... I mean we could all belong to another forum and debate who's the most talented Spears, Simpson, Duff or J. Timberlake. Not knocking any of those, but boy are we spoilt for choice in our debates,lol.

Graycap23 said:

Good answer Graycap. FUNK NOOO!
[Edited 5/4/07 15:55pm]

His chauffeur.

I have a friend who's not musically trained. He doesn't know how to properly play any instruments nor does he know how to read music, yet he produces amazing songs. Its just amazing the ideas that he comes up with. Plus he picks up the bass guitar and lays down a bassline even though he has no real understanding of the instrument. He can sing in his own style that he developed, he can rap, he's a great lyricist and he's a huge Prince fan too.
Is he more talented than Prince? I dunno, but this kid is only 20 years old. So much potential
[Edited 5/4/07 16:36pm]

Stevie Wonder perhaps but other than that no.

mrsquirrel said:

I cant get over your avatar .. I have a phobia about them ..sorry back to subject..

John Lennon was a better songwriter. He was in the biggest band in the world, and wrote their best songs. He also had a lot of charm and was extremely intelligent and eloquent(if you take out his scouser accent from the equation). He also wrote some of his best songs when he turned 40, whereas the quality of Prince´s started to deteriorate before he reached his 40th. I think Prince had to work hard, and John Lennon was great and natural talent. But that is the reason why I (we) love him so much - It because he puts so much into his music, Prince is outstanding, but has produced a lot of dissappointing stuff too. JL didnt need to try, songs came out of him quite easily. Im sure he worked hard, but not as hard as Prince in the fact that whilst songs are probably easy for Prince to make, it is clear that Prince has spent years trying to create a style, an image, a philosophy that goes hand in hand with his music. Adding to that - as a performer, he has worked hard to be the very best there is.. I dont think he has quite the same charisma and showboating talent as Elvis. I know there is another thread on this, but although the guy cant write or play instruments, Elvis would be quite hard to beat as the best entertainer of all time. Prince works bloody hard to get his concerts right, but Elvis had so much natural charisma, and THAT voice.....

What Prince is best at is building up his fan base and appealing to them and their tastes. He knows how to keep them wanting more, and his symbology and wording is so weird, his private life so private, that there are lots of people analysing him and trying to work him out, that it keeps our interest in him raised.

Musically he is innovative and was the first to explore lots of fusions of styles with dance and funk. and as a consequence, creating his own style over the years.

Influence - P appears to be the most influential pop musician out there. Probably just in front of the likes of J Brown, Santana and J Hendrix (who were influential in their own right). I am a musician and know lots of musicians, and over many years, P has held the title of performer´s performer and is indeed extremely influential. Artists all want to be like Prince in their innovation , style and performance manner. As musicians they admire prince not because he plays all his instruments, or writes amazing songs but its what he does with these instruments and songs. Its the way he arranges it all, in a non-conformist manner that is intrigeuing. Musicians love him because he makes many mistakes, releases lots of varied styles, and has a go. Every now and then, he gets it right - and when it´s right - its perfect. We musicians respect him greatly.

Is he the most talented? I dont know, it is a subjective matter. But I beleive that he has made the most of his gifts which is something we must respect him for. As a musician I know how hard it is to talk about an idea, lay down some tracks - and get the final work out there. It is HARD. But Prince does it all the time, he is a true professional, making the most of his abilities. He doesnt need to market himself much, he doesnt need to prove anything, he does all the talking through his body of work. Which will live long in our hearts and memories (as did J Lennon´s brief time on this earth).

I for one, hope he continues with his output for many years, and will forever remain intrigued and interested by what he is going to do next. There will never be anyone else like him....

So maybe the question should be, not if there is anyone more talented than Prince, but is there anyone else out there LIKE prince, and my answer is NO and there never will be...

you're saying it like Lennon never wrote a shitty song.
i'm a HUGE fan o Lennon, there's not many songwriters that i respect as much as him.
but his work also started deteriorating in quality after some time.
he had his artistic peak with the last Beatles albums, and first solo ones, with the absolute top of the world reached on Plastic Ono Band.
but then after Imagine it got considerably weaker. Mind Games is already a record merely half as good, and it got worse further down the road until he lost his poweres completely for a couple of years.
then he came back with Double Fantasy/Milk and Honey, and although there are good songs on these, they're really few and far between, not to mention that he let Yoko sing on half of them! this ranks much lower than Tony M.

just wanted to clear that out.

but if we are to try and compare P and Lennon when both of them were in their top form - i think you made quite a good point.

Christaro said:

Stevie Wonder easily

Better singer, better songwritter, better musician, better composer. Period


And he's blind...
[Edited 5/7/07 10:20am]

depends on the talent. there are better songwriters. there are better singers. there are better producers. there are better guitarists. there are better drummers. there are better performers. there are better key/paino players.


there are people that are better at Prince at everything he does. but there are very few (if any) mainstream musical acts that are better at ALL of them combined than Prince was in his prime. (and by that, i mean that his songwriting and production have fallen off immensely since then, but most of his other talents have improved).

GOD!!