5 Musical Chameleons

5. Prince

Prince's music in general was a phenomenon from his first release. The man was a true musical prodigy who perfected a smooth R&B sound on his first releases, all while playing every instrument himself. As Prince went on, it seemed that music didn't seem to have labels anymore. Across landmark albums like 1999, Purple Rain, and Sign O' the Times, Prince would go through incredible artistic leaps that covered everything from rock to soul to R&B to gospel.

Unlike many artists who evolve, there was never a Prince record that was purely defined by one genre. In a span of a few years, Prince put an eclectic mix of hit singles onto the charts from the live anthem "Purple Rain" to the R&B romp "Little Red Corvette" to the rocking "Let's Go Crazy" to the funky falsetto driven "Kiss." All these genres were pulled off seamlessly while Prince still found time to pump out classic pop songs like "Raspberry Beret" and "1999."

Up until his death in 2016, Prince continued to experiment with genres like jazz and avant garde with records like The Rainbow Children. No matter which genre he touched though, the songs would always appear as indisputably Prince.