Top 10 Musicians Who Wrote and Recorded an Album Alone

Musicians who solely wrote the music and lyrics, played all the instruments and sang.
The Top Ten
1 Quorthon Tomas Börje Forsberg, known by the stage name Quorthon (1966-2004), was a Swedish musician. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of the band Bathory, which pioneered the black metal genre and is credited with creating the Viking metal style. A multi-instrumentalist, Quorthon wrote the music and lyrics on all of albums. He died from a heart attack in 2004.
2 Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. With John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame with the rock band the Beatles, one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of pop and rock ...read more.
3 Dave Grohl David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and film director. He is best known as the former drummer of the hugely popular 90s grunge band Nirvana and the vocalist/guitarist for the alternative rock band Foo Fighters. He has sat behind the drums for many bands and artists, most notably: Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D, Ghost B.C, Them Crooked Vultures, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, David Bowie, Scream, Probot and many, many more.
4 John Fogerty

Album: Centerfield (1985)
Fogerty played all the instruments. All songs were written by him, except for the last track, #9 (probably).

5 Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, vast laser displays and fireworks.
6 Prince Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 - April 21st, 2016) was an American musician, best known for being one of the most popular and influential artists from the 80s, with songs such as "Purple Rain", "Little Red Corvette", "1999", and "When Doves Cry" .

This guy was a badass at doing stuff on his own

7 Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia.

Album: Something/Anything? (1972)
Todd Rundgren performs all instruments and vocals, except for some tracks on side four.

8 Muhammed Suiçmez Muhammed Suiçmez was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, to Turkish immigrants. He is the frontman and guitarist of the German technical death metal band Necrophagist.

Album: Onset of Putrefaction (1999).
He wrote the music and lyrics for the Necrophagist debut album and recorded it alone.

9 Varg Vikernes Louis Cachet, (born Kristian Vikernes) more popularly known as Varg Vikernes, is a Norwegian musician, writer, and a convicted murderer and arsonist. He is known as the frontman of the one-man band Burzum (named after a word in the Black Speech, which is a fictional language in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings), which is considered one of the most influential bands in black metal history. He's also known for murdering Mayhem guitarist Euronymous and was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 1994.

He did all of the instruments and vocals on all of his albums.

One man beast of Burzum

10 Matt Smith
The Contenders
11 Devin Townsend Devin Garret Townsend is a Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist in extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad from 1994 to 2007 and has an extensive career as a solo artist.

Devin did all the instruments on the albums: Devlab, and Ziltoid the Omniscient.

12 Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood is an English rock musician whose genres include progressive rock, blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, pop rock, and jazz.

Album: Arc of a Diver (1980)

13 Jon Anderson

Album: Olias of Sunhillow. 1976. Jon, the lead vocalist of Yes, did this to create a "pure solo album."

14 Brendon Urie Brendon Boyd Urie, more commonly known as Brendon Urie, was born April 12, 1987, in St. George, Utah. He is an American singer, songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist. He is best own as the lead singer of the American pop-rock band Panic! At The Disco. He is the only original remaining member. ...read more.
15 Kerim Lechner
16 Sufjan Stevens
17 Kevin Parker

All 3 Tame Impala albums.

18 Mike Oldfield Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English musician and composer. His work blends progressive rock with world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new-age music.

Played 15 intruments, but had a few guest during some parts, like an extra guitarist on side 2. So I don't know if it counts.

19 Beck Beck Hansen, known by stage name Beck, is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is mostly known for his musical composition, as well as a palette of sonic genres.

I think he did almost all of his albums completely by himself. At least his three first albums that's for sure.

BAdd New Item