"I Wanna Be Your Lover" is a song by American recording artist Prince. It was recorded in 1979 as part of a group of songs Prince hastily wrote and recorded when Warner Bros. asked for a follow-up to his debut album, For You, which did not fare well on the pop charts (peaking at No. 163) and did not contain a hit single. In response, Prince recorded "I Wanna Be Your Lover." It turned out to be his first successful single and first top 40 hit, scoring two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart in December 1979 and peaking at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100.