1. In 1'7' he scored his first hit, I Wanna Be Your Lover, and was on his way to the top.

2. He wasn‘t looking to get high with the guys.‘ His first big hit, 1'7'‘s ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover‘, was irresistibly catchy: black pop with a funk–lite guitar riff and a playfully androgynous falsetto vocal: ‘I wanna be your lover/Wanna be your mother and your sister too ...‘ Coming at the tail end of disco, it didn‘t sound like anything else on black radio.

3. Did he strike the Universal deal because he genuinely wants to compete with the Kanye Wests and Mariah Careys of the world, or is he actually quite content – and certainly wealthy enough – to have the kind of funky fun he had backing up Tamar tonight? ‘A strong spirit transcends rules,‘ he told me back in 1'''. ‘As RZA of Wu–Tang said: "I ain‘t commercial, it‘s y‘all who tell me whether I‘m commercial or not".‘ Purple reign: 10 essential albums Prince (1'7') His debut album, ForYou, had appeared a year earlier, but songs such as ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover‘ first suggested the brilliance to come.