What Was Prince’s First U.S. Top-40 Hit?

Most avid music fans can probably rattle off the list of massive hits Prince delivered in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Few artists have ever so accurately kept their finger on the pulse of what the audience wanted at any given time, all while establishing and sustaining his unique artistic identity.

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There was a single that hit big for Prince in the late ‘70s, a killer confection that seemed to be his way of hinting at what was to come in the decade that followed. Here’s the story of how his Purpleness first invaded the pop charts.

Learning the Ropes

Prince was only 19 when his debut album, For You, arrived in 1978. Here was a youngster signed to a major label who played every instrument, wrote every song, and produced the album. Naturally, some hype was going to be associated with that.

But hits weren’t forthcoming. The lead single, “For You,” did a little damage on the R&B charts, but barely cracked the Top 100 on the pop charts. The follow-up, “Just As Long As We’re Together,” also stayed relatively unheard.

Nonetheless, the album as a whole proved this was a talent who wasn’t going to be denied. He had gained necessary experience into the record-making process, and he was a ridiculously fast learner. The pop charts weren’t going to hold him back for much longer.

“Lover” Boy

A year later, Prince returned with his self-titled sophomore album. He had absorbed the lessons of the first record. Moreover, he’d later claim that at that point, he understood what it took to deliver a hit single. And then he went out and did it.

“I Wanna Be Your Lover,” the lead single off Prince, showed it wasn’t a good idea to try and confine him to any one genre. Elements of disco, funk, and even new wave can be detected in the catchy arrangement. Meanwhile, his falsetto vocal is an irresistible force throughout. The track rose all the way to No. 11 on the U.S. pop chart.

Prince wrote the song about his attraction to Patrice Rushen, a musician who had helped him arrange some of the synthesizers on his debut album. This began a long tradition of his being heavily influenced by various muses, although in this case, nothing romantic ended up happening between the pair.

The Aftermath

Interestingly enough, Prince then hit a slump, at least at the pop charts, over the next few years, even as critics continued to fall all over themselves in praising his work. Part of the issue was his naturally uncompromising nature, as he wasn’t willing to leaven his sound in any way to try and overtly court mass popularity.

It was just a matter of time before the rest of the world started to get on his wavelength. That happened in a big way with the 1982 album 1999. Prince beefed up his sound with more of a full-band approach, and the album’s title track, “Little Red Corvette,” and “Delirious” all rose to the Top 15. And that was nothing compared to what would occur with Purple Rain.

It is interesting to look back on “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” which is kind of on an island as his lone pop hit in the first five years of his recording career. Maybe some people at the time even thought he was going to be a one-hit wonder considering that beginning. More wrong those folks could not have been.

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