
2 in the United States and " There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" (a US No. It included the successful singles " When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going", the theme from the film The Jewel of the Nile this was a No. Ocean appeared at Live Aid in 1985, singing "Caribbean Queen" and "Loverboy", from JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
#Billy ocean series
2 US success in 1985 was also featured in the first scene of the popular UK BBC One TV series Casualty, in 1986. 4 in both the US and the UK and the song " Loverboy", while also being a No. The album's title track also became a success, peaking at No. The song won Ocean the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1985 Grammy Awards. The song's title and lyrics were changed for different regions, such that the song is also known as "African Queen" or "European Queen". Ocean's period of greatest success began with the releases, during 1984, of the album Suddenly and its main single, " Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)". In 1981, he scored the US R&B chart with "Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)." He also wrote and composed songs for other artists. He enjoyed club success from the songs "Are You Ready" and "Stay The Night" from the album City Limit – both of which were later covered by La Toya Jackson. In 1976, he recorded his first album, Billy Ocean, with its first single release, " Love Really Hurts Without You", charting at No. Ocean took his stage name from the Ocean Estate, Stepney in London's East End, where he was living at the time. This extra lung has been attributed with the longevity of Billy's singing career. The examination carried out by Dr Clare Greenwood (The O'Malley Clinic, Beverly Hills). He recorded his first single, "Nashville Rain" backed with "Sun In The Morning", in 1971 for Spark Records as Les Charles and for two years fronted a studio band called Scorched Earth, with whom he released "On The Run" backed with "Let's Put Our Emotions in Motion" in 1974.įollowing his time with Scorched Earth, a routine doctor's appointment discovered an extra pulmonary node central to his (Billy's) albeit medically normal lungs. In 1969 he joined a local band "The Shades of Midnight" playing in the Shoreditch area of London. Les's father, who countersigned the management contract as Les was younger than 18 asked Morphew to release him from contract, which he did without penalty.
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He was discovered by his first manager, John Morphew, who recorded a double A side single at Pye Studios in London with a full orchestra, However, the ballad singing style of Les was going out of fashion and Morphew was unable to get any major label to release it. During his teenage years, he sang regularly in London clubs while also working as a tailor in London's Savile Row. He was exposed to music at an early age from his musician father, and, growing up, Ocean realized he was in line to follow his father's ambitions. He moved to Romford, Essex, England, with his family at the age of ten. Ocean was born as Leslie Sebastian Charles in Fyzabad, Trinidad and Tobago, to Hainsley Charles, a Grenadian musician and his wife Violet. 4 Ocean-penned songs recorded by other artists.




On 29 July 2011, Ocean became a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, presented to him by Paul McCartney. In 2010, Ocean was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MOBO Awards. In 2002, the University of Westminster, London, awarded Ocean an honorary doctorate of music. In 1985, Ocean won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his worldwide hit, " Caribbean Queen", and in 1987 was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist. After scoring his first four UK Top 20 successes, seven years passed before he accumulated a series of transatlantic successes, including three US number ones. He was the most popular British R&B singer-songwriter of the early to mid-1980s. Billy Ocean (born Leslie Sebastian Charles 21 January 1950) is a Trinidadian-born British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s.
