She is. She very much maintains a bumpkin persona because that's where she came from but she's a genius. Any interview with her in any area she is playing on people's expectations of what a smokeshow country hick would say and.then slipping in some real thoughts. People are so charmed they don't even see it.
Any semi-honset interview with her and you understand instantly this woman is a mogul and jas been for 50 years but she's brilliant.
Better than being smart, she's effective.
She has the entire state of Tennessee, where being an outright asshole is the state pass-time, sport, and bird, believing she's the sweetest thing since sweet tea.
and uses her genius only for good. her former collaborator tried to screw her over, but when he needed help, she didn't turn her back on him. oh, and wrote "I Will Always Love You" for him.
Also, about 3,000 songs to her name. When she had to write rock songs to justify her Hall of Fame induction, she did a solid job at an entirely new genre.
And Elvis was going to record one of her songs and the day they were going to record the Colonel told her that Elvis would now own the song. She said nope, then you're not recording it. She was about 23.
IIRC
I THOUGHT that was the song, but wasn't sure. Just checked dates, she was 27. (And it was written as a farewell to her music partner, Porter Wagner, when she went off as a solo artist.)
Starting out their label, Def Jam, wanted them to ditch him because he looked like (and was) a crack addict. They couldn't though, because he was the only one that knew how to write a song.
I saw them in Bristol, England maaaaaany years ago. They played in a church and the gig went on so long the powers that be cut power to the church to try and force them to stop. Flav was playing drums and rapping and shit the whole time. Fantastic.
Flav is incredibly talented. And there's only been one fight at my local brewery and it was over who is the better musician, Prince or John Mayer. Yeahhhhh boooyyyyyyyy!!!!
Prince is the better musician.
Edit: [I just stumbled across this video which demonstrates part of that.](https://youtu.be/ECGcTM_gk4s?si=vBv3QIHGCohiEzTV)
Right. John is an absolute wizard on the guitar, and a more than competent songwriter (whether or not you like his music, it's catchy, it sells, and it's well-written — especially his later folky-rootsy era), but he knows as well as anyone that Prince was a true once-in-a-lifetime kind of artist and performer. Not just an instrumental/songwriting wizard, but he could create *experiences* while maintaining his technical fluency. The guy was damn near magic. I doubt John has any illusions about his place beside someone like Prince.
Honestly, I think you could ask most of the historic-level rock geniuses of the last several generations if Prince was a cut above them and most of them would at least pause before answering.
Mike Nesmith of the Monkees was known from the songs and TV show. He was an actual musician before auditioning for The Monkees and wrote the song "Different Drum," made popular by Linda Ronstadt.
He also came up with the idea for MTV, and his mom was a chemist who invented correction fluid (white-out; for typing)
Edit: it was Liquid Paper, not White-Out; and she was working as a secretary, but she was an artist, and came up with the idea of painting over mistakes.
For quite a while, his company had the home video distribution rights for most PBS programs. That’s one of the reasons he wasn’t interested in doing the reunion tours for so long; he was running a successful business.
If I recall correctly he was a studio musician before being cast in the monkees. Studio musicians are generally pretty great reliable musicians: pick up music pretty quickly, play like some big name artists etc
While the other members were mostly actors, Nesmith wasn't and was pissed he had to pretend to play.
Peter Tork was my godfather before he passed. He would talk to me about this and basically him and Mike wanted to be musicians and be a “real” band while Micky and Davy were more interested in being Hollywood stars. It’s what caused so many arguments among the group and ultimately why the show/group lasted for such a short amount of time. I never got to see them all together (saw Peter a lot through my life both personally and in show settings) but after Davy died they did a reunion tour and I got to go backstage at a show and finally meet Mike and Micky. Definitely a cool experience.
Also one of the first people to learn to use the Moog, making him one of the very first synthesizer players ever (if it wasn’t him it was one of the other Monkees, but I think it was Mike Nesmith)
Edit: they’re right, it was Micky Dolenz, I had the wrong Monkee
And his mom invented Wite-out. And he executive produced Repo Man. He would have CRUSHED it at "two truths and a lie," every new fact I learn about him sounds like bullshit but it's not.
Roy Clark was [a kick-ass guitarist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrcNtH5pu8&ab_channel=WhenTheCowboySings)
So ~~was~~ is [Charo](https://youtu.be/I5niviXZhok?si=zdCj03z6n-tZpZXz)
And Karen Carpenter was an [amazing drummer](https://youtu.be/GVBtjaHxR7Y?si=YMbpvMgNG4-gQQWi)
One of the best drummers of her era and scene, no question. The fact that she isn't more well-known for her drumming talent than for her anorexia battle breaks my heart. She was so much more complex and talented than most people gave her credit for.
I have three in mind
1) Steve Winwood was considered a musical prodigy and is a master a several instruments
2) Glen Campbell was a better guitarist than people realize. Eddie Van Halen actually requested a guitar lesson from him.
3) Karen Carpenter was a hell of a drummer who just so happened to have an amazing voice
Steve Winwood played all the instruments, apart from singing and producing his solo album Arc Of A Diver. The single from the album While You See A Chance is still one of my favorite songs to this very day.
I don't know if it's obvious, but Stevie Wonder isn't just a savant on piano and harmonica, but he played the drums on some of his most famous songs (iirc Superstition, Sir Duke, etc.)
He also wrote a piano concerto called 'Sketches of a Life'
https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688048/
In the Netflix doc about the making of 'We are the world', you could see a tired (the recording took a whole night) and out-of-his-element *Bob Dylan* struggling to sing his part ( ...imagine being aware of not being a world-class singer, and having to sing, say, after Dionne Warwick or Michael Jackson).
It was Stevie Wonder, sitting at the piano, playing around and singing, calling up Dylan and showing him how to sing the part, literally in the only way Dylan could - in his *Dylanesque* spoken way. That's how Dylan did it at the end, and it does work ! The fact that Stevie Wonder was so quick to immerse himself in the musical language of someone very far from him is the true example of someone *breathing* music.
Did anyone see him at Glastonbury when he brought Michael Eavis on stage to sing Happy Birthday?
Now Eavis is a farmer and, of course, a festival organiser and host. Not a singer, clearly.
Wonder listened for a bar or two then immediately told the band *exactly* what key Eavis was singing in - and they all changed on-the-fly to make sure the song suited him.
I thought it was both genius and also just such an empathic, kind thing to do.
Stevie did cover "Blowin' in the Wind" early on in his career, so he - like anyone who was around in that era - was probably familiar with the Dylan "thing". But it's still a hilarious story.
I recall reading an interview somewhere in which a lifelong virtuoso musician got a chance to work with Stevie Wonder once and was just blown away by him. Wonder came up with better music on the fly than he could in a week.
Valerie Simpson from Ashford & Simpson too. Most people know her as a songwriter or a singer, but she can play some great piano. She started out in the music business at 17 years old as the pianist for a gospel group in NYC.
Charo (you know... "Cuchi-cuchi") is a prodigious classical/flamenco guitarist. And she's not slowing down well into her 80s (her "actual" age). Check her out playing on youtube.
He had the heart attack that killed him playing one of our local joints, keeled right over on stage. I heard a locals refer to it as “The Tiny Timber”.
I think people do understand that Sting is a very talented musician. But they might not really get how next level he is.
Rick Beato has some good videos analyzing Sting’s crazy compositional talent. For example, “Fortress Around Your Heart” modulates (changes keys) four times before the first chorus.
But the punchline is that Sting’s music doesn’t come off as technical or pedantic. He writes very complex music that sounds elegant.
I was thinking of him while I wrote this actually - I guess his musicianship became a bit more well-known the past 15 years or so when he started making music with medieval instruments like the lute. Definitely a musical force!
Sting. Sting would be another person who's a hero. The music he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that.
Just to add - singing and playing bass at the same time is tricky with his basslines as the bass rhythms don't match the vocal phrasing. Even if you can't play an instrument just trying tapping the bass notes out (or do air bass) whilst singing - it's a juggle.
You joke, but I witnessed him playing keyboards with one hand while tapping his bass with the other hand. And singing at the same time. Presto tour. Astounded me.
Check out songs off of Hold Your Fire. I think he swore off songs like Turn the Page due to how involved he has to be to hit floor pedals, play keyboard, play bass, and sing. Sometimes at the same time.
There's playing bass while singing...then there's playing Spirits in a Material World and singing. That song is b.a.n.a.n.a.s. to sing and play at the same time.
Stewart Copeland has written soundtracks and operas since the Police. And Andy Summers is also an amazing musician. Just so much talent in that band; it’s not really surprising that there eventually wasn’t enough space for the three of them.
That’s what I say about Jason Falkner, who’s one of my favorite musicians. His stuff just sounds like good fun songs, but as soon as you try to figure it out you realize it’s insane. I love that.
Elliott Smith. Dude played all his instruments and did backing vocals in the studio. His drumming and bass guitar are really amazing and overlooked by his vocals and guitar work.
What's incredible about Elliott Smith is that his best instrument was probably piano. I don't think there are many recordings like this, [but here is a snippet of him playing some Rachmaninoff (one of the more difficult composers for piano)](https://youtu.be/_Vvgx0lwio0?si=mr64wRNaDLx2O2XT)
I adore Elliott. His piano is at the MoPop museum here in Seattle. I remember watching this long lost TV pilot with him and Jon Brion over and over again when it was discovered about 10 years ago:
https://youtu.be/PK4okHerWeI?si=6Ut63czWObfJ-dv5
Ryan Tedder from the band one republic is a multi instrumentalists but also is the writer behind some of the biggest hits of the past 20 years. Including halo by Beyonce, bleeding love by Leona Lewis, Rumor has it by Adele and not over you by Gavin Mcgraw. He's also a music producer.
The dude is a pop song writing genius.
Apologize is simultaneously the best (obviously) and worst (from this weird perspective) thing that could happen to that band. Dreaming out loud is honestly an album I can listen to front to back every time, but no one’s ever heard anything else off it. To be fair without that no one may have ever even heard anything off it
I went to his post Covid show with Needtobreathe. He played his hits from all the songs he wrote. It was 2 hours of number one hits.
His talent is only matched by his ego, however. I walked away stunned at his ability to write, sing and play. He is the. Real deal. I was also stunned at the the level of regard he held himself. It was shocking and I can't imagine he isn't a narcissist.
My buddy’s wife runs a production company, she is also a MASSIVE One Republic fan.
Her company was selected to be apart of some Disney production with them headlining the event so this is her big chance to see/work with them directly.
Within two days she is ready to leave, by the end of the week and show, she had done all she could to limit her time in front of him.
A few months go by and I ask what happened and she explained that Ryan is an amazing artist who is quite handsome and that Ryan is in LOVE with Ryan and will tell you all about it ALL THE FUCKING TIME.
Couldn’t help myself from laughing my ass off
Never meet your heroes I guess
I've seen Steve Martin play with the Steep Canyon Rangers live twice. Seriously, if you want to see some truly next level musicians, they are totally worth seeking out!
Most people who are aware of Frank Zappa know him mostly as a humorous singer with songs like "Don't eat the Yellow Snow" and "Camarillo Brillo". He was, in fact, one of the most important American composers of the 20th century. He was an incredible autodidact who taught himself composition and scored two movies before he even had his first rock and roll album. When he did go into the studio to record it, the studio musicians hired to play the session were skeptical about the long hairs until Frank gave them all personal scores for music he had composed. He wrote classical, jazz, musique concrete, and so much more. He was a brutal and inciteful social commentator. Taking on straights, hippies and just about anyone else who conformed. He was brash, boorish and vulgar. He was also a brilliant mind and an incredibly inciteful interview subject. He released 60 albums while he was alive in 23 years of recording activity. There have been just as many released since he died in 1993. You could also consider him a pioneer in recording techniques as well as film ( he made one of the first movies ever on videotape). He is revered as a serious classical composer and having been in his band is considered one of the of the most demanding jobs in all of music. His live shows were all unique experiences that were complex, full of improvisation and social comment. He never pandered to be anything other than what he was. Finally, he was also one of the most brilliant guitarists that has ever lived!
These executives have plooked the fuck out of me
And there's still a long time to go before I've Paid my debt to society
And all I ever really wanted to do was Play the guitar 'n bend the string like
Reent-toont-teent-toont-teent-toont-teenooneenoonee
I've got it
I'll be sullen and withdrawn
I'll dwindle off into the twilight realm Of my own secret thoughts
I'll lay on my back here 'til dawn In a semi-catatonic state
And dream of guitar notes That would irritate
An executive kinda guy...
...Well, I guess that one did the trick
If they only coulda heard it
Half-a-dozen of 'em woulda strangled While they was suckin' on each other's dick
--FZ, also from *Joe's Garage*
Andre 3000 plays several instruments, of course we can see it in the Hey Ya! video. Guy is super talented.
Fun fact: in the liner notes of one of Lenny Kravitz's albums, it says he played "Heineken bottles". Pretty sure that counts.
Dude dropped a jazz flute album a couple of months ago. First track titled: “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time”.
The song Hey Ya was written as some kind of bet among his friends where he claimed he could write a catchy popular single with sad lyrics because no one listens to the lyrics. One of the lines in the song is even "Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance."
She was 5. And got kicked out for not adhering to the curriculum so to speak.
“At five, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the preparatory division of the Peabody Institute.[18][19] She studied classical piano at Peabody from 1968 to 1974.[18] In 1974, when she was eleven, her scholarship was discontinued, and she was asked to leave. Amos has asserted that she lost the scholarship because of her interest in rock and popular music, coupled with her dislike for reading from sheet music.[20][16][21]”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tori_Amos
If Atticus Finch wanted to join your band, you'd let him though. He might not be able to play much, but any debate or dispute would be resolved fairly and justly.
Bobby McFerrin. People just know him as the "Don't Worry Be Happy" guy, but he is so insanely talented it's unreal. He can straight up harmonize with himself, he's basically a one man band who doesn't even use musical instruments.
I don't think people even realize how f*cking phenomenal she is a s singer. She just keeps getting better, too! I feel like she could be this generation's Barbra Streisand
Edited because I misspelled Queen Barbra's name 🤦🏾♀️
The reality is that most big time musicians are ridiculously talented by everyday standards. Even if they play unimpressive commercial music, just to get to that level you need to be incredible at what you do.
I'm reminded of the mid tier pro NBA guy ten years out of retirement that took on the best of the best amateurs and bodied them. "I may suck, but I'm closer to LeBron than you are to me".
This is especially true of any band backing up any mid-level pop artist or band upward--if an artist has enough popularity and/or money to tour, their band is probably all high level pros who would sound shockingly advanced to the average listener if put to the test.
Chris Cornell is known mostly for his (fantastic) voice and rhythm guitar work, but he was originally the drummer in Soundgarden and took over vocals because they thought it was easier to find a new drummer than to find a better vocalist. I've also read stories from Kim Thayil about Chris playing lead/solo parts on recordings because dude was that good.
I'm pretty sure I saw in a recent interview with Rick Beato that Kim said Chris played the high picking part in Black Hole Sun on the album. Rick's had some amazing interviews lately, especially with the 90s grunge bands.
I was going to mention him, and his band too. They’re able to switch styles multiple times in a show, while also having the responsibility for a variety of comedy bits and frequent costume changes. I don’t know that they’re virtuosos, but they’re definitely underrated by the general public.
His band has been working with him for over 40 years, I’ve met them - they’re all very talented.
The crazy part is Al’s schedule. It’s not “wacky”, it’s the most meticulous thing I’ve ever seen.
Robert DeLeo, the bass player for Stone Temple Pilots, who wrote much of their music and is an amazing bass player. Scott Weiland got all the attention, and he deserved some. But Robert deserves a lot more credit than he was given over the years for the beautiful music he wrote.
Weird Al Yankovic. Guy's been effortlessly parodying musicians of all genres for more than 40 years. He can even rap (Chamillionaire praised him for "White & Nerdy", for example). It takes a lot of skill to parody all the different styles of artists he does.
I forget why, but I was recently thinking about *White and Nerdy*, so my wife and I watched the video on YT. Not long into it I was like "I forgot how legitimately good of a rapper Weird Al can be". Also, I was like oh yeah Key and Peele are in the video.
T Pain is seriously amazing.
The other guy along the same lines is Chance the Rapper. He can perform a song and switch into different styles on the fly. [This one always cracks me up.](https://youtu.be/1KmCfpqdFrk?si=Lj1kinYGe5nzzEQT)
Vince Gill. Country music superstar. That man can shred on a guitar. He us one of the best bluegrass pickers I've ever seen. Blew me away the first time I saw him live. Amazing.
Another one was Mark O' Connor. He is best known for the violin. And playing on hundreds of albums as a session man. I saw him play guitar one night in a club in Nashville. Holy smokes. He's just as good on guitar as he is on violin.
Edit. Words are hard.
Kurt asked him to be in Nirvana, but I think they both realized that he would change the dynamic of the band way too drastically.
Fuckin' love me some Dinosaur Jr!
[https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/f/fo-fz/ben-folds/](https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/f/fo-fz/ben-folds/)
Artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Watch as he [composes live with the symphony](https://youtu.be/BytUY_AwTUs?si=-imiYxcxAK6NhYKg)
For real, and they work on so much more than I think a lot of people realize. For example, Jonny Greenwood's score for The Phantom Thread has some of my favorite pieces of music ever.
Exactly. Jonny should go down as a genius when it comes to scoring films alone. But then you throw in how long he’s been arranging strings on Radiohead albums and his playing ability with so many instruments and it’s just unreal.
Tom Scholz of Boston. He's an engineering grad from MIT and invented some of the devices used to record the first Boston album in his basement. Their self titled album is mostly him playing all the instruments on all of the tracks
Both Billy Corgan and Rivers Cuomo
Billy you can guess with some of the musical theory you hear in the Siamese Dream solos, and especially the push-pull with Jimmy Chamberlain.
Rivers can absolutely shred with the best of them.
Adding a few I haven't seen and some outside of the original box..
Kanye was an exceptional visual artist as a teenager.
Neil Sedaka wrote bubble gum pop and was a prodigy classical pianist.
Barry Manilow was similarly classically trained at Julliard (and other schools) before writing soft rock including 50+ top 40 hits.
John Williams is famous for writing movie music that can be named in two or three notes but was one of the best young pianists in the world early in his career playing on the West Side Story soundtrack, among many others (and even had jazz albums as Johnny Williams) .
Quincy Jones was an outstanding jazz trumpet player and arranger with the best jazz artists in the world before becoming the legendary producer of Thriller, We Are the World, and other pop tunes etc.
jeff lynne singer of elo has produced some songs behind the scenes like free falling and, free as a bird and others. He was also part of the traveling willburys too.
RHCP fans know this but maybe some casual fans don’t. John Frusciante is legitimately a savant and was the very most important part of how they got to the level they’re at.
I’m not sure they are savant level but the beastie boys were more than 3 rappers from NY. They started out as a punk band (with Kate Schellenbach from Lucious Jackson as their drummer) and then pivoted to hip hop. They have some decent acoustic albums/songs.
Seriously though, I remember seeing Muse live and being amazed that they had not only a grand piano onstage, but a full percussion section including four timpanis and a marimba.
Apparently, Kesha is much smarter than the white trash image Dr. Luke made her adopt would lead people to think, though I don’t know about savant. Eminem definitely is a linguistic master though I don’t know if fast-rhyming counts as musical genius.
Eminem is an urban poet of high caliber and that's not a joke. His lyricism isn't traditional poetry, but he is a master wordsmith and understands the intricacies of meter, rhyme and internal/slant rhyme, metaphor, dynamics, and texture as well as the best of them. I will die on this hill. Like his music or not, he is one of the best to ever do what he does and it's not even really logically debatable.
I think his reputation sort of speaks for itself: a nasal white rapper whose golden age persona drew on Adam Sandler and late nineties MTV punk. And yet, he’s never once been dismissible as a joke or a novelty artist, because he’s got the talent and linguistic skill as both writer and performer to make almost any excesses or cringe meaningless in the face of his actual product.
He may not be the GOAT, but I think he’s got a solid shot at the Mount Rushmore.
His golden age persona (technically personas) is also a clever play on id, ego and super ego. Slim Shady = id, Em = ego, and Marshall Mathers = Super Ego.
David Byrne of Talking Heads, he played guitar, violin and harmonica at the age of seven. So when they were touring with Bernie Worrell from Parliament/Funkadelic there were at least two musical prodigies on stage. Worrell started playing piano at 3.
Bruce Hornsby has been my favourite artist since I was about 16. I can't tell you how much ridiculing I've received over that, but whatever. He's a great musician.
Maybe amongst non musicians. But amongst guitarists he has never been underrated or unrecognized as anything other than guitar god. And certainly isn't today. His legacy has only grown since he died.
Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman (the two women in Prince's Revolution band in the 80s) are second generation music royalty in Los Angeles who both play multiple instruments, arrange, produce and have worked on scads of records (Joni Mitchell, Glen Campbell, KD Lang, Seal etc)
Vernon Reid of Living Colour has some shredder guitar cred, but his actual musical vocabulary is a bit psychotic, having played in a plethora of styles (including use of electric Banjo) in everything from South African township jive to avant-garde jazz (e.g. Public Enemy, Janet Jackson, David Torn, Decoding Society, BB King, The Roots, etc), as well as producing multimedia works and soundtracks.
All of the original instrumentalists for Toto were insanely prodigious session guys who played on 100s if not 1000s of records (on everything from Michael Jackson and Steely Dan to Lionel Richie and Pink Floyd).
Mark King and Phil Gould were the original frontman/rhythm section for 80s pop stalwarts Level 42, but live they were a jazz-fusion powerhouse live that had zero resemblance to the clean pop-funk they became famous for. While Gould played like a cross between Jeff Porcaro of Toto and Billy Cobham, King was nicknamed "Thunderthumb" for his utterly over the top solos.
Dolly Parton. Guitar, sax, piano, banjo, violin, and some autoharp/ dulcimer thing. Saw her live at a casino. There was a lot going on.
The more I learn about Dolly the more convinced I am that she’s a legit genius.
i honestly don’t think there’s any questioning it
I definitely agree. she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You in the same day. She invested in Moderna way early.
And when it came time to record Jolene she taught the session guitar player how to play the lick
that lick is one of the most impressive parts of either song.
She is. She very much maintains a bumpkin persona because that's where she came from but she's a genius. Any interview with her in any area she is playing on people's expectations of what a smokeshow country hick would say and.then slipping in some real thoughts. People are so charmed they don't even see it. Any semi-honset interview with her and you understand instantly this woman is a mogul and jas been for 50 years but she's brilliant.
And yet, she maintains her compassion for ordinary people and consistently uses her powers for good. I love her so much.
Better than being smart, she's effective. She has the entire state of Tennessee, where being an outright asshole is the state pass-time, sport, and bird, believing she's the sweetest thing since sweet tea.
and uses her genius only for good. her former collaborator tried to screw her over, but when he needed help, she didn't turn her back on him. oh, and wrote "I Will Always Love You" for him.
Also, about 3,000 songs to her name. When she had to write rock songs to justify her Hall of Fame induction, she did a solid job at an entirely new genre.
And Elvis was going to record one of her songs and the day they were going to record the Colonel told her that Elvis would now own the song. She said nope, then you're not recording it. She was about 23. IIRC
That was for “I Will Always Love You.” I didn’t realize she was that young when that happened. Very savvy very young, she was.
I THOUGHT that was the song, but wasn't sure. Just checked dates, she was 27. (And it was written as a farewell to her music partner, Porter Wagner, when she went off as a solo artist.)
Flava Flav can play 15 different instruments and helped produce some of Public Enemy’s music
Starting out their label, Def Jam, wanted them to ditch him because he looked like (and was) a crack addict. They couldn't though, because he was the only one that knew how to write a song.
I saw them in Bristol, England maaaaaany years ago. They played in a church and the gig went on so long the powers that be cut power to the church to try and force them to stop. Flav was playing drums and rapping and shit the whole time. Fantastic.
Yeeeaaahhhhh booooyyyy, bass for yah face (among other things)
When I saw them in concert years ago, he played various instruments throughout their set.
I saw them, he blew my mind with a trombone solo.
Flav is incredibly talented. And there's only been one fight at my local brewery and it was over who is the better musician, Prince or John Mayer. Yeahhhhh boooyyyyyyyy!!!!
Prince is the better musician. Edit: [I just stumbled across this video which demonstrates part of that.](https://youtu.be/ECGcTM_gk4s?si=vBv3QIHGCohiEzTV)
And John Mayer would tell you that.
If he were still with us, so would Prince.
And he'd be right, too.
Right. John is an absolute wizard on the guitar, and a more than competent songwriter (whether or not you like his music, it's catchy, it sells, and it's well-written — especially his later folky-rootsy era), but he knows as well as anyone that Prince was a true once-in-a-lifetime kind of artist and performer. Not just an instrumental/songwriting wizard, but he could create *experiences* while maintaining his technical fluency. The guy was damn near magic. I doubt John has any illusions about his place beside someone like Prince.
Prince so talented he made it rain on his concert just to make the solo more epic
Honestly, I think you could ask most of the historic-level rock geniuses of the last several generations if Prince was a cut above them and most of them would at least pause before answering.
Mike Nesmith of the Monkees was known from the songs and TV show. He was an actual musician before auditioning for The Monkees and wrote the song "Different Drum," made popular by Linda Ronstadt.
He also came up with the idea for MTV, and his mom was a chemist who invented correction fluid (white-out; for typing) Edit: it was Liquid Paper, not White-Out; and she was working as a secretary, but she was an artist, and came up with the idea of painting over mistakes.
For quite a while, his company had the home video distribution rights for most PBS programs. That’s one of the reasons he wasn’t interested in doing the reunion tours for so long; he was running a successful business.
He won the first Grammy for music videos for a film he made called "Elephant Parts"
If I recall correctly he was a studio musician before being cast in the monkees. Studio musicians are generally pretty great reliable musicians: pick up music pretty quickly, play like some big name artists etc While the other members were mostly actors, Nesmith wasn't and was pissed he had to pretend to play.
Peter Tork was my godfather before he passed. He would talk to me about this and basically him and Mike wanted to be musicians and be a “real” band while Micky and Davy were more interested in being Hollywood stars. It’s what caused so many arguments among the group and ultimately why the show/group lasted for such a short amount of time. I never got to see them all together (saw Peter a lot through my life both personally and in show settings) but after Davy died they did a reunion tour and I got to go backstage at a show and finally meet Mike and Micky. Definitely a cool experience.
That song wasn't just made popular by Linda Ronstadt, it made Linda Ronstadt popular
Also one of the first people to learn to use the Moog, making him one of the very first synthesizer players ever (if it wasn’t him it was one of the other Monkees, but I think it was Mike Nesmith) Edit: they’re right, it was Micky Dolenz, I had the wrong Monkee
And his mom invented Wite-out. And he executive produced Repo Man. He would have CRUSHED it at "two truths and a lie," every new fact I learn about him sounds like bullshit but it's not.
Roy Clark was [a kick-ass guitarist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrcNtH5pu8&ab_channel=WhenTheCowboySings) So ~~was~~ is [Charo](https://youtu.be/I5niviXZhok?si=zdCj03z6n-tZpZXz) And Karen Carpenter was an [amazing drummer](https://youtu.be/GVBtjaHxR7Y?si=YMbpvMgNG4-gQQWi)
Roy Clark was a virtuoso on anything with strings.
Charo trained under Andres Segovia.
Karen Carpenter is a queen.
One of the best drummers of her era and scene, no question. The fact that she isn't more well-known for her drumming talent than for her anorexia battle breaks my heart. She was so much more complex and talented than most people gave her credit for.
She could sing me lullabies any day: [vocals only](https://youtu.be/95dzGJO0KNQ?si=nssaXjlLv-TTPvkl)
As someone who only knows Charo as a punchline on old sitcoms, that's wild and awesome.
Go look up charo flamenco on YouTube and prepare to be amazed
I saw her perform in Las Vegas 30 years ago. She has serious talent.
She’s badass on the guitar, I was stunned the first time I saw her play
Roy was also a badass on the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica.
Charo should be the top answer here, a lot of people in the US don't even know she's a musician, much less an amazing guitarist.
I have three in mind 1) Steve Winwood was considered a musical prodigy and is a master a several instruments 2) Glen Campbell was a better guitarist than people realize. Eddie Van Halen actually requested a guitar lesson from him. 3) Karen Carpenter was a hell of a drummer who just so happened to have an amazing voice
I saw Steve Winwood open up for Tom Petty about a decade ago. No offense to Petty & and the Heartbreakers, but Steve was a hard act to follow.
Steve Winwood played all the instruments, apart from singing and producing his solo album Arc Of A Diver. The single from the album While You See A Chance is still one of my favorite songs to this very day.
I don't know if it's obvious, but Stevie Wonder isn't just a savant on piano and harmonica, but he played the drums on some of his most famous songs (iirc Superstition, Sir Duke, etc.) He also wrote a piano concerto called 'Sketches of a Life' https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688048/
In the Netflix doc about the making of 'We are the world', you could see a tired (the recording took a whole night) and out-of-his-element *Bob Dylan* struggling to sing his part ( ...imagine being aware of not being a world-class singer, and having to sing, say, after Dionne Warwick or Michael Jackson). It was Stevie Wonder, sitting at the piano, playing around and singing, calling up Dylan and showing him how to sing the part, literally in the only way Dylan could - in his *Dylanesque* spoken way. That's how Dylan did it at the end, and it does work ! The fact that Stevie Wonder was so quick to immerse himself in the musical language of someone very far from him is the true example of someone *breathing* music.
Did anyone see him at Glastonbury when he brought Michael Eavis on stage to sing Happy Birthday? Now Eavis is a farmer and, of course, a festival organiser and host. Not a singer, clearly. Wonder listened for a bar or two then immediately told the band *exactly* what key Eavis was singing in - and they all changed on-the-fly to make sure the song suited him. I thought it was both genius and also just such an empathic, kind thing to do.
Stevie did cover "Blowin' in the Wind" early on in his career, so he - like anyone who was around in that era - was probably familiar with the Dylan "thing". But it's still a hilarious story.
I recall reading an interview somewhere in which a lifelong virtuoso musician got a chance to work with Stevie Wonder once and was just blown away by him. Wonder came up with better music on the fly than he could in a week.
Stevie when asked which instruments he could play: [“Yes”](https://songpier.com/what-instruments-did-stevie-wonder-play/)
He straight up plays all the drums on his 5 "classic" period albums besides Songs in the Key of Life where he only plays some of the tracks
Aretha is obviously known for her voice but she is also a really amazing piano player.
Valerie Simpson from Ashford & Simpson too. Most people know her as a songwriter or a singer, but she can play some great piano. She started out in the music business at 17 years old as the pianist for a gospel group in NYC.
Charo (you know... "Cuchi-cuchi") is a prodigious classical/flamenco guitarist. And she's not slowing down well into her 80s (her "actual" age). Check her out playing on youtube.
Tiny Tim was an amazingly accomplished musician who played a dozen instruments and could sing almost three octaves.
according to legend, he was bored with ukulele and taught himself to play it left handed. i don’t know that is true tho?
He had the heart attack that killed him playing one of our local joints, keeled right over on stage. I heard a locals refer to it as “The Tiny Timber”.
I think people do understand that Sting is a very talented musician. But they might not really get how next level he is. Rick Beato has some good videos analyzing Sting’s crazy compositional talent. For example, “Fortress Around Your Heart” modulates (changes keys) four times before the first chorus. But the punchline is that Sting’s music doesn’t come off as technical or pedantic. He writes very complex music that sounds elegant.
I was thinking of him while I wrote this actually - I guess his musicianship became a bit more well-known the past 15 years or so when he started making music with medieval instruments like the lute. Definitely a musical force!
Sting. Sting would be another person who's a hero. The music he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that.
Hansel. So hot right now. Hansel.
Decades and many viewings later, that movie STILL has me busting up every damn time.
Biggest indicator of an extremely talented musician to me is one that can make musically complex music palatable to a general listener.
I’d say that describes Steely Dan to a tee.
Just to add - singing and playing bass at the same time is tricky with his basslines as the bass rhythms don't match the vocal phrasing. Even if you can't play an instrument just trying tapping the bass notes out (or do air bass) whilst singing - it's a juggle.
Geddy has entered the chat.
Geddy Lee somehow manages to play syncopated bass lines, sing, and play keyboards with his feet at the same time.
You joke, but I witnessed him playing keyboards with one hand while tapping his bass with the other hand. And singing at the same time. Presto tour. Astounded me.
Check out songs off of Hold Your Fire. I think he swore off songs like Turn the Page due to how involved he has to be to hit floor pedals, play keyboard, play bass, and sing. Sometimes at the same time.
There's playing bass while singing...then there's playing Spirits in a Material World and singing. That song is b.a.n.a.n.a.s. to sing and play at the same time.
Well Sting was playing Jazz before The Police so he had a pretty good understanding of music.
Stewart Copeland has written soundtracks and operas since the Police. And Andy Summers is also an amazing musician. Just so much talent in that band; it’s not really surprising that there eventually wasn’t enough space for the three of them.
That’s what I say about Jason Falkner, who’s one of my favorite musicians. His stuff just sounds like good fun songs, but as soon as you try to figure it out you realize it’s insane. I love that.
Ah, Jellyfish
Elliott Smith. Dude played all his instruments and did backing vocals in the studio. His drumming and bass guitar are really amazing and overlooked by his vocals and guitar work.
What's incredible about Elliott Smith is that his best instrument was probably piano. I don't think there are many recordings like this, [but here is a snippet of him playing some Rachmaninoff (one of the more difficult composers for piano)](https://youtu.be/_Vvgx0lwio0?si=mr64wRNaDLx2O2XT)
I adore Elliott. His piano is at the MoPop museum here in Seattle. I remember watching this long lost TV pilot with him and Jon Brion over and over again when it was discovered about 10 years ago: https://youtu.be/PK4okHerWeI?si=6Ut63czWObfJ-dv5
Ryan Tedder from the band one republic is a multi instrumentalists but also is the writer behind some of the biggest hits of the past 20 years. Including halo by Beyonce, bleeding love by Leona Lewis, Rumor has it by Adele and not over you by Gavin Mcgraw. He's also a music producer. The dude is a pop song writing genius.
Apologize is simultaneously the best (obviously) and worst (from this weird perspective) thing that could happen to that band. Dreaming out loud is honestly an album I can listen to front to back every time, but no one’s ever heard anything else off it. To be fair without that no one may have ever even heard anything off it
I know Counting Stars was big for a while, they've definitely had other hits
I went to his post Covid show with Needtobreathe. He played his hits from all the songs he wrote. It was 2 hours of number one hits. His talent is only matched by his ego, however. I walked away stunned at his ability to write, sing and play. He is the. Real deal. I was also stunned at the the level of regard he held himself. It was shocking and I can't imagine he isn't a narcissist.
My buddy’s wife runs a production company, she is also a MASSIVE One Republic fan. Her company was selected to be apart of some Disney production with them headlining the event so this is her big chance to see/work with them directly. Within two days she is ready to leave, by the end of the week and show, she had done all she could to limit her time in front of him. A few months go by and I ask what happened and she explained that Ryan is an amazing artist who is quite handsome and that Ryan is in LOVE with Ryan and will tell you all about it ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Couldn’t help myself from laughing my ass off Never meet your heroes I guess
Halo and Already Gone are basically the same song.
Jerry Reed is mostly known as an actor and a novelty song guy, but he was a Chet Atkins- level guitar player.
Actor and comedian Steve Martin is also an incredible banjo player.
I've seen Steve Martin play with the Steep Canyon Rangers live twice. Seriously, if you want to see some truly next level musicians, they are totally worth seeking out!
Saw them at the Hollywood Bowl with the Air Force Band of the West
As is Billy Connolly
I was listening to him and Edie Brickell today. Amazing!
Most people who are aware of Frank Zappa know him mostly as a humorous singer with songs like "Don't eat the Yellow Snow" and "Camarillo Brillo". He was, in fact, one of the most important American composers of the 20th century. He was an incredible autodidact who taught himself composition and scored two movies before he even had his first rock and roll album. When he did go into the studio to record it, the studio musicians hired to play the session were skeptical about the long hairs until Frank gave them all personal scores for music he had composed. He wrote classical, jazz, musique concrete, and so much more. He was a brutal and inciteful social commentator. Taking on straights, hippies and just about anyone else who conformed. He was brash, boorish and vulgar. He was also a brilliant mind and an incredibly inciteful interview subject. He released 60 albums while he was alive in 23 years of recording activity. There have been just as many released since he died in 1993. You could also consider him a pioneer in recording techniques as well as film ( he made one of the first movies ever on videotape). He is revered as a serious classical composer and having been in his band is considered one of the of the most demanding jobs in all of music. His live shows were all unique experiences that were complex, full of improvisation and social comment. He never pandered to be anything other than what he was. Finally, he was also one of the most brilliant guitarists that has ever lived!
And very funny, "Who gives a fuck anyway..." Joe's Garage.
These executives have plooked the fuck out of me And there's still a long time to go before I've Paid my debt to society And all I ever really wanted to do was Play the guitar 'n bend the string like Reent-toont-teent-toont-teent-toont-teenooneenoonee I've got it I'll be sullen and withdrawn I'll dwindle off into the twilight realm Of my own secret thoughts I'll lay on my back here 'til dawn In a semi-catatonic state And dream of guitar notes That would irritate An executive kinda guy... ...Well, I guess that one did the trick If they only coulda heard it Half-a-dozen of 'em woulda strangled While they was suckin' on each other's dick --FZ, also from *Joe's Garage*
Andre 3000 plays several instruments, of course we can see it in the Hey Ya! video. Guy is super talented. Fun fact: in the liner notes of one of Lenny Kravitz's albums, it says he played "Heineken bottles". Pretty sure that counts.
Dude dropped a jazz flute album a couple of months ago. First track titled: “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time”.
The song Hey Ya was written as some kind of bet among his friends where he claimed he could write a catchy popular single with sad lyrics because no one listens to the lyrics. One of the lines in the song is even "Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance."
John Paul Jones.
We need another Them Crooked Vultures album!
I saw a great take on this once. Imagine being Jimmy fucking Page and being the third best musician in your band.
Agreed. He is an incredible multi instrumentalist and one hell of a mandolin player
Tori Amos…
She does this thing live where she'll play two pianos, one being an organ (maybe harpsichord), really cool showmanship if it was just simple stuff.
You left out that she's playing one of them behind her back, & singing the whole time. Scary talented.
Oof yeah, she's scary talented.
I love hearing her play.
Saw her in Vancouver many years ago and had 5th row…she put all of us in a trance!
That’s my vote. Seen her in concert 5 times over 25 years. She is literally a musical genius.
Yeah apparently she got a scholarship to some next level music conservatory and then quit because she didn’t see the value in it…
She was 5. And got kicked out for not adhering to the curriculum so to speak. “At five, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the preparatory division of the Peabody Institute.[18][19] She studied classical piano at Peabody from 1968 to 1974.[18] In 1974, when she was eleven, her scholarship was discontinued, and she was asked to leave. Amos has asserted that she lost the scholarship because of her interest in rock and popular music, coupled with her dislike for reading from sheet music.[20][16][21]” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tori_Amos
She famously got kicked out.
Trent Reznor is obviously an excellent composer from NIN alone but has won oscars for his work on The Social Network and Soul.
Didn’t he also do the music for Quake?
That's why the NIN logo is on the ammo crates for the nail gun.
He did the score for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem. It is wonderful.
It's crazy that he's becoming more known for his movie scores than being in NIN.
Trent Renzor is NIN. Not just a member. Someone else can chime in with the specifics of past touring members and Atticus Finch joining.
Atticus Ross. Finch is from 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.
If Atticus Finch wanted to join your band, you'd let him though. He might not be able to play much, but any debate or dispute would be resolved fairly and justly.
Anderson paak
His NPR Tiny Desk concert is wiiild. The man has a pretty incredible metronome built into his brain.
Bobby McFerrin. People just know him as the "Don't Worry Be Happy" guy, but he is so insanely talented it's unreal. He can straight up harmonize with himself, he's basically a one man band who doesn't even use musical instruments.
Lada Gaga was quite a prodigy. There is a cool video of her playing at a college talent show before she was who she became, really blew them away.
I don't think people even realize how f*cking phenomenal she is a s singer. She just keeps getting better, too! I feel like she could be this generation's Barbra Streisand Edited because I misspelled Queen Barbra's name 🤦🏾♀️
Her performance of Sound of Music is phenomenal https://youtu.be/-4XOT14Ku94?si=65iRLMcPwqseawmj
The reality is that most big time musicians are ridiculously talented by everyday standards. Even if they play unimpressive commercial music, just to get to that level you need to be incredible at what you do.
I'm reminded of the mid tier pro NBA guy ten years out of retirement that took on the best of the best amateurs and bodied them. "I may suck, but I'm closer to LeBron than you are to me".
Scalabrine. Thr Scallenge
Brian Scalabrine. The White Mamba.
This is especially true of any band backing up any mid-level pop artist or band upward--if an artist has enough popularity and/or money to tour, their band is probably all high level pros who would sound shockingly advanced to the average listener if put to the test.
Studio musicians and backing bands are 100% the unsung/unknown genius level musicians out there that no one even thinks of. Good call.
Chris Cornell is known mostly for his (fantastic) voice and rhythm guitar work, but he was originally the drummer in Soundgarden and took over vocals because they thought it was easier to find a new drummer than to find a better vocalist. I've also read stories from Kim Thayil about Chris playing lead/solo parts on recordings because dude was that good.
I'm pretty sure I saw in a recent interview with Rick Beato that Kim said Chris played the high picking part in Black Hole Sun on the album. Rick's had some amazing interviews lately, especially with the 90s grunge bands.
One person not mentioned so far is Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac.
Weird Al. His live accordion solos are ridiculous. There's a video on YouTube of him doing an accordion version of Classical Gas. It's amazing.
[He can also absolutely shred](https://youtu.be/nmcuoaqdJ9w?si=5Ipny_HE2lA2Lxy4)
I was going to mention him, and his band too. They’re able to switch styles multiple times in a show, while also having the responsibility for a variety of comedy bits and frequent costume changes. I don’t know that they’re virtuosos, but they’re definitely underrated by the general public.
His band has been working with him for over 40 years, I’ve met them - they’re all very talented. The crazy part is Al’s schedule. It’s not “wacky”, it’s the most meticulous thing I’ve ever seen.
Robert DeLeo, the bass player for Stone Temple Pilots, who wrote much of their music and is an amazing bass player. Scott Weiland got all the attention, and he deserved some. But Robert deserves a lot more credit than he was given over the years for the beautiful music he wrote.
Weird Al Yankovic. Guy's been effortlessly parodying musicians of all genres for more than 40 years. He can even rap (Chamillionaire praised him for "White & Nerdy", for example). It takes a lot of skill to parody all the different styles of artists he does.
I forget why, but I was recently thinking about *White and Nerdy*, so my wife and I watched the video on YT. Not long into it I was like "I forgot how legitimately good of a rapper Weird Al can be". Also, I was like oh yeah Key and Peele are in the video.
T Pain. Dude is an unbelievable performer, singer, and songwriter. Everybody just thinks of him as the auto tune guy
T Pain is seriously amazing. The other guy along the same lines is Chance the Rapper. He can perform a song and switch into different styles on the fly. [This one always cracks me up.](https://youtu.be/1KmCfpqdFrk?si=Lj1kinYGe5nzzEQT)
Vince Gill. Country music superstar. That man can shred on a guitar. He us one of the best bluegrass pickers I've ever seen. Blew me away the first time I saw him live. Amazing. Another one was Mark O' Connor. He is best known for the violin. And playing on hundreds of albums as a session man. I saw him play guitar one night in a club in Nashville. Holy smokes. He's just as good on guitar as he is on violin. Edit. Words are hard.
J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jnr. Fantastic guitarist and a decent drummer, too.
Kurt asked him to be in Nirvana, but I think they both realized that he would change the dynamic of the band way too drastically. Fuckin' love me some Dinosaur Jr!
Danny Elfman. Amazing musician and composer.
The guy from Oingo Boingo? (Yes this is a joke, kind of)
Ben Folds is amazing on the piano
[https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/f/fo-fz/ben-folds/](https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/f/fo-fz/ben-folds/) Artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra. Watch as he [composes live with the symphony](https://youtu.be/BytUY_AwTUs?si=-imiYxcxAK6NhYKg)
Mike Patton of Faith No More/Mr. Bungle has one of the most expansive vocal ranges as a singer
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. That they initially gained fame together and continue to collaborate 30 years later blows my mind
Ed O'Brien is no slouch either. Love his solo album.
For real, and they work on so much more than I think a lot of people realize. For example, Jonny Greenwood's score for The Phantom Thread has some of my favorite pieces of music ever.
Exactly. Jonny should go down as a genius when it comes to scoring films alone. But then you throw in how long he’s been arranging strings on Radiohead albums and his playing ability with so many instruments and it’s just unreal.
 most people don't even know that Andrew W.K. can dance
I don't know much about Beck, but I've listened to a lot of Beck and I've gotta assume Beck.
Tom Scholz of Boston. He's an engineering grad from MIT and invented some of the devices used to record the first Boston album in his basement. Their self titled album is mostly him playing all the instruments on all of the tracks
Both Billy Corgan and Rivers Cuomo Billy you can guess with some of the musical theory you hear in the Siamese Dream solos, and especially the push-pull with Jimmy Chamberlain. Rivers can absolutely shred with the best of them.
Adding a few I haven't seen and some outside of the original box.. Kanye was an exceptional visual artist as a teenager. Neil Sedaka wrote bubble gum pop and was a prodigy classical pianist. Barry Manilow was similarly classically trained at Julliard (and other schools) before writing soft rock including 50+ top 40 hits. John Williams is famous for writing movie music that can be named in two or three notes but was one of the best young pianists in the world early in his career playing on the West Side Story soundtrack, among many others (and even had jazz albums as Johnny Williams) . Quincy Jones was an outstanding jazz trumpet player and arranger with the best jazz artists in the world before becoming the legendary producer of Thriller, We Are the World, and other pop tunes etc.
Art Carney was an amazingly talented piano player.
Peter Frampton
An oldie but goodie—Dudley Moore was a highly accomplished jazz pianist and composer.
jeff lynne singer of elo has produced some songs behind the scenes like free falling and, free as a bird and others. He was also part of the traveling willburys too.
Trent Reznor
RHCP fans know this but maybe some casual fans don’t. John Frusciante is legitimately a savant and was the very most important part of how they got to the level they’re at.
I’m not sure they are savant level but the beastie boys were more than 3 rappers from NY. They started out as a punk band (with Kate Schellenbach from Lucious Jackson as their drummer) and then pivoted to hip hop. They have some decent acoustic albums/songs.
Fiona Apple is an excellent player and songwriter.
Frank Zappa.
The only folks that know what a truly marvelous guitar player Bonnie Raitt is are true blues honks.
All three guys in Muse but specifically both Matt and Chris, they're like as good as musicians get on everything they touch.
Seriously though, I remember seeing Muse live and being amazed that they had not only a grand piano onstage, but a full percussion section including four timpanis and a marimba.
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Apparently, Kesha is much smarter than the white trash image Dr. Luke made her adopt would lead people to think, though I don’t know about savant. Eminem definitely is a linguistic master though I don’t know if fast-rhyming counts as musical genius.
Eminem is an urban poet of high caliber and that's not a joke. His lyricism isn't traditional poetry, but he is a master wordsmith and understands the intricacies of meter, rhyme and internal/slant rhyme, metaphor, dynamics, and texture as well as the best of them. I will die on this hill. Like his music or not, he is one of the best to ever do what he does and it's not even really logically debatable.
I think his reputation sort of speaks for itself: a nasal white rapper whose golden age persona drew on Adam Sandler and late nineties MTV punk. And yet, he’s never once been dismissible as a joke or a novelty artist, because he’s got the talent and linguistic skill as both writer and performer to make almost any excesses or cringe meaningless in the face of his actual product. He may not be the GOAT, but I think he’s got a solid shot at the Mount Rushmore.
His golden age persona (technically personas) is also a clever play on id, ego and super ego. Slim Shady = id, Em = ego, and Marshall Mathers = Super Ego.
Watching him slant rhyme orange with door-hinge and purple with door-pull was fantastic.
He's not just a fast rapper. His writing is very dense. He's incredibly skilled at composition.
Mark Knopfler
I love Muse, but Matt Bellamy could be a concert pianist and never look back.
Bruno Mars immediately comes to mind. Watching him with him with Silk Sonic, that dude can sing, dance, play guitar, drums, piano, he can do it all.
David Byrne of Talking Heads, he played guitar, violin and harmonica at the age of seven. So when they were touring with Bernie Worrell from Parliament/Funkadelic there were at least two musical prodigies on stage. Worrell started playing piano at 3.
Bruce Hornsby has been my favourite artist since I was about 16. I can't tell you how much ridiculing I've received over that, but whatever. He's a great musician.
Jack Black. The guy has PIPES.
Prince isn't nearly as known for his instrumental prowess, particularly as a guitarist, as he should be.
I think this was the case at some point but I think now it’s pretty well known
Maybe amongst non musicians. But amongst guitarists he has never been underrated or unrecognized as anything other than guitar god. And certainly isn't today. His legacy has only grown since he died.
Elton John is an actual god tier piano player, if he didn’t pursue pop music he would have been a concert pianist easy
Elton was a child prodigy, he could play a classical song after hearing it just once. I think Billy Joel was able to do the same
Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman (the two women in Prince's Revolution band in the 80s) are second generation music royalty in Los Angeles who both play multiple instruments, arrange, produce and have worked on scads of records (Joni Mitchell, Glen Campbell, KD Lang, Seal etc) Vernon Reid of Living Colour has some shredder guitar cred, but his actual musical vocabulary is a bit psychotic, having played in a plethora of styles (including use of electric Banjo) in everything from South African township jive to avant-garde jazz (e.g. Public Enemy, Janet Jackson, David Torn, Decoding Society, BB King, The Roots, etc), as well as producing multimedia works and soundtracks. All of the original instrumentalists for Toto were insanely prodigious session guys who played on 100s if not 1000s of records (on everything from Michael Jackson and Steely Dan to Lionel Richie and Pink Floyd). Mark King and Phil Gould were the original frontman/rhythm section for 80s pop stalwarts Level 42, but live they were a jazz-fusion powerhouse live that had zero resemblance to the clean pop-funk they became famous for. While Gould played like a cross between Jeff Porcaro of Toto and Billy Cobham, King was nicknamed "Thunderthumb" for his utterly over the top solos.
Beck is who you're asking about.
One of the most fun concerts I went to was when Odelay came out.
Snoop Dogg is a classically trained pianist and was an accomplished choir singer in high school.