Thank for the mention. I was aware of the others, but never saw Prince in quite that light, so I learned something. I will admit, you don’t appear to be the only one in awe of his skills.
http://people.com/music/songs-prince-wrote-for-others/
I’m in awe of his skills because of having been a musician; I know my shortcomings. I’ve played in jazz bands since junior high, and rock bands in high school and later on. In my mid-twenties, I knew I couldn’t compare to others so I left the scene to concentrate on IT work. Back then I was playing with some guys who went on to some fame. The last band I was with, wasn’t making much money and broke up and reformed as Malo (Jorge Santana, etc.). Leo Pepe Rosales, our timbales performer, one day during practice asked me if I wanted to be a performer or something else. Because he was practicing 8 hours a day or more to perfect his skills, and was dedicated to music. It was then I decided to pursue IT and drop music. Do one thing, and do it well. I was just a so-so musician, but a good tech guy. He and some others I know went on to bigger things. One became a symphony conductor for a major city, another a top world-famous jazz trombonist, etc. But I also know a lot of guys who were so-so and continued playing. Very few are capable of performing great music, fewer at song-writing, and I’m in awe of those folks who do write songs. Sorry about rambling, getting old but reminiscing.
There’s a story—no doubt apocryphal—that someone asked Eric Clapton what it was like to be the best guitarist on earth. He replied, “I don’t know. You’d have to ask Prince.” Too great a line for it to be real.