Prince

Prince played 27 instruments on his debut album 'For You' and single-handedly performed on 80% of his 40+ studio albums, a level of artistic control that outperforms #4 Whitney Houston's average of 3 collaborators per song. His 1984 'Purple Rain' soundtrack won 3 Grammys and spent 24 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling over 25 million copies—30% more than the average genre benchmark album. With 112 million records sold and a 2013 Rock Hall induction, he remains the most prolific multi-instrumentalist in R&B history.