She wanted to be your number one because she will keep on loving you. But where did Princess go?
Music’s royal family was completed in 1985 with the arrival of Desiree Heslop. Queen still ruled, King had made a big splash the year before and Prince was staking his claim to the throne across the world. Now a Princess wanted to be number one, and she had the top production team on her side!
She began her music career in the late 1970’s singing in the Afrobeat group Osibisa but it wasn’t until 1985 that she branched out as a solo performer when she was signed to the fast emerging ‘hit factory’ of Stock Aitken Waterman and PWL Records. Her debut solo single “Let The Night Take The Blame” was released in May 1985 but did nothing. It was her second release that summer “Say I’m Your Number One” that would admit her to music royalty.
The song climbed to No.7 in the UK (not quite a number one!) as well as reaching the top ten in Germany, Australia and Switzerland. It charted No.19 on the US R&B chart and No.22 on the dance chart there. She followed this with “After The Love Has Gone” at the end of 1985 which did not fare as well, reaching No.28 in the UK and making the top 40 in a further eight countries. It did, however, make more of an impression Stateside where it made No.6 on the dance chart!
Her next single, the passionate down-tempo “I’ll Keep On Loving You”, was released in early 1986 and peaked at No.16 in the UK as well as charting in six other countries across Europe. Her self-titled debut album came soon after reaching No.18 in the UK and gaining a Gold certification for sales of 100,000 copies there.
Two further singles were lifted from the album “Tell Me Tomorrow” (UK No.34) and “In The Heat Of A Passionate Moment” (UK No.74) which also made the US dance chart reaching No.30. Princess left PWL and signed with Polydor Records in 1987 and released the single “Red Hot” but this could only make No.58 in the UK. I did, however, reach No.30 on the US dance chart, her last appearance on that chart.
Her second album “All For Love” was recorded in the US but sold hardly a few dozen copies anywhere. A second single “I Cannot Carry On” reached No.92 in the UK in the Summer of 1987. Princess released “Lover Don’t Go” in 1989 but it failed to chart in any country. She retired from music soon after following the death of her Mother and the horrific murder of her brother.
It wouldn’t be until 2003 that she returned to recording, releasing the single “Ride”. Two further offerings came with 2008’s “Sweet Money” and 2010’s “One Away”, but neither made any impact anywhere. In 2014 Princess recorded a new album “The Emergence”, her first for twenty seven years and released the single “I’m Gonna Love Ya”. The album is intended to be the first of a trilogy, the two remaining albums being titled “The Passion” and “The One”.
Princess remains active and has made the odd appearance on television most notably in ITV’s ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ in 2005 singing, ironically, Kylie‘s No.1 smash hit “Slow”!
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