5 Musical Chameleons

For any famous musician, you're lucky if you are able to find your own sound. Whether it's your own specific guitar tone, the sound of your voice, or the way you write songs, so many musicians dream of having that X-factor that is undeniably them. But what's the fun in staying in just one lane?

Many musicians would kill for one distinct sound, but the artistic side of the brain refuses to be confined. Once you get tired of one style, you'll want to start exploring and see what other styles suit your musical palette. With this comes sound changes, image changes, and even changes to the way you make records. These such musicians normally go through periods of different genres ranging from rock to pop to soul and everything in between.

The musicians listed here today are prime examples of following their own muse and shedding their artistic skin whenever they see fit. While not everyone in the hallowed halls of music are covered here, these are the first examples of people who continued to change their sound with each subsequent release.

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.