Backside

Say I’m Your No. 1 had not originally been intended for Desiree, instead it had been offered to different Bands but they turned it down. The set of demos was shopped to major labels, with no success. Desiree was eventually picked up by newly-formed independent label Supreme Records, set up by Pete Waterman and business partner Nick East. Donovan changed her sister’s stage name to Princess. Speaking about the song’s development, writer Matt Aitken stated “What we ended up doing was placing the chorus a minor third above the verse, a very unusual interval. Then it goes down again at the end, and at the middle eight, all by minor third degrees, which is very unusual.” The song was released in July 1985. Upon its release, it became an instant smash, peaking at #7 in the UK and spending 12 weeks on the charts, earning a Gold disc for over 250,000 sales, and becoming Princess’ biggest hit in her native country and only top 10 hit. When released around Europe, the record also became a succes, hitting the top 10 in many European countries, Australia and New Zealand. In the USA, while it never charted on the Billboard Hot 100, it was a top 20 hit on the dance charts. “Say I’m Your Number One” has sold over a million copies worldwide, becoming Princess’ best known song and biggest seller.

Princess (Desiree Heslop) was a struggling singer doing session work for different studios around London. It was during one of those sessions that she came to the attention of Mike Stock, who booked her as a backing vocalist for their production team Stock Aitken & Waterman.
Desiree’s elder brother Donovan Heslop, who acted as her manager, had a meeting with Pete Waterman to push her sister into lead singer territory. (Quelle Wikipedia)