Photo: Winter/Getty

Born June 7th, 1958 Key Tracks Little Red Corvette," "When Doves Cry," "Kiss" Influenced OutKast, D'Angelo, Gwen Stefani, Kevin Barnes

"Prince is the boldest black singer in postmodern music, hands down," says Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson. "His voice has multiple personalities, he's fearless, and when he screams, he truly sounds like he's crazy." Indeed, that throat-shredding climax to "The Beautiful Ones" sure feels like a man who has lost his mind — it's as convincing as the passion dripping from the lighter-than-air falsetto in "Adore," the pure-rock shouting of "Let's Go Crazy" or the robotic deadpan of "When Doves Cry." "His vocals are just limitless," says Lenny Kravitz. "There's the androgynous, very feminine Prince, there's the James Brown-style Prince, the gospel Prince, the rock & roll Prince. He has so many different textures and dimensions with his voice — and everything is funky."

1. Little Red Corvette
2. When Doves Cry
3. Kiss
4. Raspberry Beret
5. Purple Rain
6. 1999
7. I Wanna Be Your Lover
8. Let's Go Crazy
9. Adore
10. Do Me Baby

• View List: The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
• Listen: The Ultimate Singers Playlist
• The Ballots: View Handwritten Votes
• Legends at Work: In the Studio Photos
• Voters & Methodology