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Desiree Carole Heslop (born 28 November 1961), best known as Princess, is a British singer who found chart success in the mid-1980s. In the early 1980s, she worked with the group Osibisa. She is best known for her hit single "Say I'm Your Number One" which made the UK Top Ten in 1985.

Career

Princess initially started out in law as a secretary and sales assistant. During her first year of college she sang vocals on a punk rock track. Before going solo, she was a backing vocalist for the band Osibisa in the early 1980s. She recorded sessions on the Brilliant album Kiss The Lips of Life, which brought her to the attention of producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW).

Princess also sang backing vocals for artists such as Precious Wilson and Evelyn "Champagne" King. In 1985, Princess, known as Desiree at the time, collaborated with 501's, and released the single Let The Night Take The Blame, which was released under Fanfare Records. The single failed to chart.

Her debut solo album Princess (1986) was composed and produced by SAW which contained the hit single, "Say I'm Your Number One". Despite SAW's initial reservations about committing to a follow-up to that hit, an album was produced that spawned five charting singles, and was certified silver in the UK.

The relationship between the artist and her brother/manager Donovan (Don) Heslop, and SAW and their allied label Supreme Records, began to decline following the underperformance of her fourth single with the producers, "Tell Me Tomorrow". The discord accelerated with her disillusionment over being excluded from input into mixes for their final single together, "In The Heat of A Passionate Moment."

"That was perhaps where you could feel that the parting of the ways, that had already begun, was truly happening," she recalled of the arguments over the single mixes.

Leaving SAW and Supreme, Heslop signed with Polydor and recorded her second album, All for Love (1987) in the United States, but neither the album nor its three singles had much success.

Don Heslop has alleged Princess was "blacklisted" by parts of the British music industry, who he claims were incensed by the perception he and his sister had been ungrateful to Pete Waterman by leaving SAW.

"The story was being given that we walked away from Pete Waterman, and we were ungrateful. And that's not really what occurred. More specifically, there were other people that got involved with ensuring that a rift occurred between Pete and ourselves.

"But what occurred, why these singles did not do as well, was that environment within the business that was in opposition to us, which ended up with us hearing that we were about to be blacklisted. And that tells you the rest of the story in terms of what happened thereafter; why you didn't hear of Princess much anymore."

In 1989, Princess released the stand-alone single "Lover Don't Go", which failed to chart. Don has alleged that the single's chart prospects were unfairly halted, after its sales were mysteriously assigned to another artist's record, causing Princess' single to miss the top 100.

"On the Tuesday, the track was 108 the chart, but come Thursday, we see nothing. We hear later on it dropped to 365, and they told us that they made an error with the barcode and gave our sales to some other record. That killed the record."

Her third album, Say It, which was slated for release in 1990, was never issued as Princess retired from the music scene and moved to the US. She later returned to being a backing singer, appearing on the Vanilla Ice album To The Extreme that same year.

From 1991 to 2003 she lived in the US, before returning to England. That same year she formed her own music label with her brother Donovan, OnDa Ground Music Label, which has released all her music since, and released her first single in 14 years, "Ride", with rap ensemble EEDB. A music video was also filmed which referenced her retirement.

She appeared in ITV's 2005 production Hit Me, Baby, One More Time, singing Kylie Minogue's "Slow".

In April 2014, she released her third album, The Emergence, the first in 27 years. It is the first in a trilogy of albums, the other ones titled The Passion and The One.

In March 2016, Princess attended Shen Yun. She commented "Shen Yun singers are excellent and the music is beautiful. It's an incredible and refreshing experience! As a singer, I can't help but sit here and experience the notes, thinking about how I can write similar music."

In March 2019, she released the EP "The Passion Part 1".

In May 2021, Princess released a teaser for her single "Silhouettes in the Dark", which can be found on her YouTube channel. In July that year, an interview with Princess and her brother Donovan was featured on "A Journey Through Soul" podcast, which would later return in November.

On 14 February 2023 she released the single "Will You Call Me" from her upcoming album "The Passion".

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

1. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 439/440. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
2. Aniagolu, Charles (2004). Osibisa: Living in the State of Happy Vibes and Criss Cross Rhythms. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 9781412021067.
3. "Osibisa Albums". www.softshoe-slim.com. Archived from the original on 10 May 2003. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
4. ^ "A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 6: Say I'm Your Number One on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
5. "A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 8: It's A Man's Man's Man's World to Whenever You Need Somebody on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
6. Wynn, Ron. "Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
7. "A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 12: Tell Me Tomorrow to New York Afternoon on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
8. ^ "A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 16: Living Legend to Samba on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
9. Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952–2004. Collins. p. 615. ISBN 9780007179312.
10. ^ "PRINCESS - full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
11. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW, Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 241. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
12. "Princess - Princess (album)". bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
13. ^ "Princess Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography". Music VF. Retrieved 1 October 2020.

External links

• Princess discography at MusicBrainz (Discography)
• Princess at AllMusic
• Discography at Discogs.

• Living people
• English dance musicians
• 20th-century Black British women singers
• English people of Antigua and Barbuda descent
• Singers from London
• English women pop singers
• 1961 births
• 21st-century Black British women singers