Five years ago, Cathy Glover was a club dancer in Chicago. She had always been a Prince fan, an admirer since the first album, since that first US hit single Soft And Wet, since his first tour. "I just wanted to be up there with him, because he gave me so much energy and inspiration," she says. In 1984 she moved to Los Angeles, continuing to develop the unique style that was subsequently to have such impact on the visuals in Sign ‘O' The Times and set the whole tone and pace of the Lovesexy shows. Her style is not that of a trained dancer, even though she moves with the grace of a ballerina; neither is it one of the many standard variations on jazz dance. When Cat dances, it’s an evocation of something instinctive, a synthesis of soul and sexuality. She combines elegance with speed and awe-some precision, her pierce de resistance a sustained body-shake of bone-juddering intensity which leaves other dancers open-mouthed in amazement. Her first big break came after she moved to LA: she got onto the television talent show Star Search. "I actually did pretty good," she recalls. "I won seven out of eight times, two perfect scores, and I lost the finals!" Far from being discouraged, she knew that the exposure would be valuable. 'the reason I was on the show was so someone could see me and help me out in my career. Unfortunately the person I did want to see me never saw me." That person, of course, was Prince, and it wasn’t until later that the two finally met at a party in an LA club. "He asked me to dance and I said, 'Sure!’ I was real excited, I’m going, this isn't happening, he is not asking me!' It was like The Twilight Zone, everything in slow motion." So there she was, still fresh up from the Midwest, finally getting to take the floor with her dream dance partner. And the next thing she knew, he was asking her to be in his band, as dancer and singer. Her official debut appearance came not however as a performer, but as the model on the covers of the Sign ‘O’ The Times seven and 12-inch singles and on an inner sleeve of the album, holding one of Prince’s sensuous-ly-sculpted guitars or a gigantic version of the mirrored heart – now his enduring emblem. She was not mentioned in the album credits, and the ambiguity of the photography duped many people into believing that the ‘model’ was in fact Prince in drag." We thought that was hilarious," she con-fesses. ‘We just laughed, it was so funny. It was interesting to see how people react to different things: 'Oh, he shaved his legs'!" Reaction to her next project – directing the moves on the U Got The Look video – was as straightforward as it could be. She was nominated on the strength of it as best choreographer in the upcoming MTV awards. The video was an early sign that Cat’s powerful personality was making itself felt. The concept was of a contest between Cat and guest singer Sheena Easton, the prize being Prince, In the story, it’s Cat who gets him in the end. To make that idea stick when you’re the new kid on the block, and you’re dealing with Sheena Easton – a woman wide-ly regarded as one of the music business’s toughest cookies – is no mean achievement. U Got The Look paved the way for Cat to choreograph the entire Sign 'O’ The Times project – the live shows, fated to be rehearsed but not staged in Britain last summer, and the subsequent Paisley Park material that was grafted onto the live foot-age to complete the film. Anyone who knows how Prince works knows that he must have been greatly impressed by her talent to give her such huge responsibility so early on. He does not suffer incompetence gladly; in fact, he does not suffer it at all. Whatever he’s involved in, he sets him-self the highest possible standards. And to work with him. you’ve  got to be capable,of: maintaing   those same standards in your own field. "He can be a real hardnosed son of a bitch," as previous protegee Brenda Bennett (of Apollonia and Vanity 6) testifies. But it is said, as a rule, with both affection and admiration for his sheer professionalism. "I don’t think there’s anyone that can be as creative as he can," says Cat. "I’ve actually stayed in the studio with him and watched him put down everything by himself. "He has so much fun. He’s fun, he gets in there and dances. He knows exactly what he wants to do. He feels his music. He just goes in there and does it – then he smiles." Others confirm that if you work with him, he’ll push you until you think you just can’t give any more, because he's determined to prise that extra something out of your performance that even you didn't know you were capable of. But fall short of what he expects and he’ll tell you quite bluntly: "If you can’t do it, then I’ll find someone else who can." And the technique succeeds, because people know they’re working with the best and they know he'll bring out the best in them. Cat is all that she seems, however risky that maybe. She may be Prince's fantasy, but more importantly, she's his foil. She challenges him when others fear to speak. She shakes him up – figuratively and literally – and he loves it. But along with strength and lack of fear, she has enormous heart, especially where  fans are concerned. Stopped in the streets in London, she would answer every question, sign every autograph and chat happily without ¿ the slightest indication that she might regard ¿ this as simply the price of stardom, or as a - chance to effect some good self-publicity. During personal appearances in record stores, she broke ranks to talk to fans who j couldn’t get close because of the security   around the band. And she has given several  of those mirrored heart bracelets – tokens of   her special relationship with Prince – to kids  who only expected autographs, but touched  her in some special way. There is another important aspect about  the grooming of Cat. She is the first of ' Prince’s female front people who is truly, in disputably black. His taste in the past has  never strayed beyond the dusky Latino looks  of Apollonia (Patty Kotero) or Sheila E e (Escovedo), one of Prince’s earliest investments. With Cat, Prince has finally crossed  the lihe: he’s found the missing link with his own roots and with his own female side. The chemistry is complete, and it’s going to go right'on working. Cat’s arrival may have been enigmatic, but she has already been given, in certain respects, more control and influence  than his earlier accomplices have en-joyed, and it's inconceivable that this isn’t in preparation for even greater things. Cat also likes to party. It's an essential qualification when you consider that Prince’s concerts, with never less than two hours of performance these days, are frequently followed by jam sessions in some local venue lasting just as long again. I witnessed two, such events during the Lovesexy tour, on the opening nights in both Paris and London. London's party was admit-tedly by invitation but Paris was really just the kind of luck that normally only happens to people in books. My girlfriend and I had funded our own visit to the French capital to see the first night. We had planned to pick up our tickets and make our own way to the show, but at the very last minute, we were offered a ride on the coach taking record company and media bigwigs from their hotel to the concert. Because we arrived on the coach, we were also able to get back on it after the show, expecting to be returned to the same hotel. But instead, we found ourselves heading for the Bois de Boulogne and the Chalet des Isles – the location of the apres-gig media bash. The band arrived later and we grabbed a lift with them on the little boat shuttling people to the Chalet, which is on an island in the middle of a lake. The security was heavy on the jetties and at the door, but inside, there was no segregation other than some reserved tables – musicians mingled freely with the guests. The stories that Prince is constantly surrounded by bodyguards was proved patently untrue: Cat was his only protection. Maybe it’s because he's adept at melting into the background on such occasions. When I strode up to Cat and asked to be introduced to Sheila E, who was sitting on her right, I didn’t even notice the Minneapolis Mozart boss until she indicated the figure sitting to the left of her and casually said: "And this is Prince". He grinned sheepishly and extended a hand. I shook it. ‘We met a long time ago," I said, in reference to when I’d interviewed him in Amsterdam during the Dirty Mind tour. "Yes," he said. "And I did a piece a while back with Brenda Bennett which I understand you liked." "Yes," he said again, still smiling. On the balcony overlooking the stage of the  Camden Palace back in London, where Prince held his first night party, there was another opportunity to observe Cat at close quarters. After Prince had serenaded her alone with  Happy Birthday, the rest of the band, save for guitarist Miko, joined him on stage, leaving Cat to watch most of the show from the wings. She could have spent 'the time chatting to the celebrities populating the artists’ bar, but instead, she hung over the guardrail, as transfixed by the onstage action as anyone in the audience, determined not to miss a single purple trick or twirl. There again was the evidence that, despite her own celebrity status these days, she’s still an avid Prince fan. It was genuinely touching. Later I saw her clutching the box containing the birthday cake Prince had given her. By now the 26 candles were a little askew but the message – "Happy Birthday Darling" in chocolate icing – was still firmly intact. I left her talking to Terence Trent D’Arby. He’d been to Paris too – quite a fan. The enthusiastic verdicts on the band's opening night at Wembley ahd the subsequent Camden Palace gig may have differed in detail but everyone agreed on one thing: Cat was Prince’s new girlfriend. Had someone  told them? His record company, WEA claimed innocence. Had they all deduced it from the birthday dedication? Or had they simply assumed it, since Prince’s romances with his leading ladies are by now legendary? interestingly, the question of a romance was put to Cat in an American television interview as long ago as last year. She emphatically denied it. But she obviously knew where that would lead. "Any time Prince works with a female, it’s always That's his new girlfriend'," she told the interviewer. "So if I told you I wasn’t you wouldn’t believe me anyway. "We're really close," she added. "I don’t even think of it as something serious. He’s a greet person to work with. He's a lot of fun, and that’s enough for me." It’s also because nothing is left to chance that Cat is serving such a thorough apprenticeship as Prince's band member before being launched on a solo career. Clearly, for her to become simply another recording artist signed to Paisley Park, along side Sheila E, fill Jones, Taja Sevelle and Madhouse (for whom, incidentally, she recently choreographed a video) would be a gross under-exploitatian of her talents – not something Prince is renowned for.For Cat to give her best, she has to be seen as well as heard. And since Prince is clearly committed to mking more movies, what better way to promote Cat’s remarkable performing talents than vie the big screen? So it's my gueSs that, whatever she does musically, Cat’s movie career won’t end with  Sign '0' The Time And when the time does come to uncage her, I'm convinced.she'll be.unstoppable – a New Protean woman for the 90s. If her mentar were a¿ne bqt Prince, I’d wonder if he realised just, skat he was unleashing. But he knows all right.