Music maker who painted his mother? (8)
I believe the answer is:
whistler
'painted his mother?' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition. I also know that both 'painted' and 'mother' relate to this answer.
'music maker who' is the wordplay.
'music maker' becomes 'whistle' (whistle is a kind of musical instrument).
'who' becomes 'r' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'whistle'+'r'='WHISTLER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for whistler that I've seen before include "referee" , "old kettle, say" , "He used canvas" , "English painter or mouth musician" , "He famously painted his mother" .)