The greatest musician

[Jazzy]

In your opinion, who is the greatest musician of all time?

 

[DrLeftover]

Single Greatest? I'm not sure I can do that.

But I think I could come up with a set of them that transcend their own time and place and have made an impact beyond the narrow circle of their audience.

Such as....

 

[DrLeftover]

Let's see..... are you defining "greatest" by simple longevity,

or by numbers of genres performed in,

or by awards won,

gold records,

movie sound tracks,

maybe name recognition.

Or, how about,

ALL OF THE ABOVE.

In which case I will hold forth two further nominees.

Ladies First:

Since 1963 she essentially has not stopped recording albums (25 and counting), making movies, being on stage and TV.

In 1980 she was being paid $300,000 a WEEK to appear on stage in Vegas.

Academy Award WON (check), Grammy (check), Emmy, (check), Golden Globe (check).

She is the only artist in history to have a Billboard Number One Single in Six Consecutive Decades.

To date, she has sold well over 100 million records world wide.

She is, Cher.

 

[DrLeftover]

Our next nominees are no where near as good looking, and never were.

But they too have been around very nearly forever, and they look it.

At one time, they were referred to as "Their Satanic Majesties". Well, they called themselves that on their own album cover.

And nobody argued with it.

We don't need numbers, lists of awards, or anything else besides this simple fact.

Besides the Pope, name a group of old men that can sell out stadiums for multiple nights in a row.

 

[DrLeftover]

How about Willie?

 

[Wonko]

It has to be the "Boss" he writes & composes for so many artists and happens to be one of the best performers ever as well.

 

[Crusader]

Jimi Hendrix has to be up there.

 

[seasidemike]

There are just so many..
here is one:

 

[seasidemike]

and another:

 

[seasidemike]

Tony Banks: Key Boards:

 

[seasidemike]

David Gilmour:

 

[seasidemike]

Mike Oldfield:

 

[Jazzy]

Miles Davis

Somehow in his more than forty years of recording, Miles Davis never drifted into irrelevancy. He was an intense and spiritual figure who refused to be pigeon-holed by any single style of expression. Through his trumpet playing and band leadership, he constantly sought new ways to manifest improvised performance. This rejection of the status quo put him at the forefront of major developments in jazz and rock last century - including bebop, cool jazz, fusion, and even jazz hip-hop. No one else in music can claim such a long reign as the King of Cool.