Billy Ocean

Leslie Sebastian Charles (born 21 January 1950), known professionally as Billy Ocean, is a Trinidadian-British singer and songwriter. Between 1976 and 1988, he had a series of hit songs in the UK and internationally.

He achieved breakthrough success with the 1976 single "Love Really Hurts Without You". His second single was released under the stage name Billy Ocean, and peaked at no. 2 in the UK and no. 3 in Australia. In 1977, his single "Red Light Spells Danger" also peaked at no. 2. He released the single "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" in 1984. In the UK, the song peaked at no. 6. In the U.S., it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at no. 85 but peaked at no. 1 ten weeks later. Ocean won the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the song. It also charted in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and across Europe under three different titles. In 1985, "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" peaked at no. 1 in the UK and no. 2 in the U.S. the following year. In July of 1986, he achieved an American no. 1 with the single "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)". In 1988, his single "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" reached no. 1 in the U.S. and no. 3 in the UK.

In 2010 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the MOBO Awards and he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to music.

Ocean was born on 21 January 1950 in Fyzabad, Trinidad and Tobago, to Violet and her husband Hainsley Charles, a Grenadian musician. He moved to Romford, Essex, England, when he was 10 years old, shortly before Trinidad and Tobago became independent in 1962. While also working as a tailor in London's Savile Row he sang regularly in a London nightclub.

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 Ocean was going out of fashion, and Morphew was unable to get any major label to release it, so remains unreleased. Ocean's father — who had countersigned the management contract as Ocean was underage — asked Morphew to release him from the recording contract, which he did without penalty. On 3 March 1969, he joined a local London band as lead vocalist, the Shades of Midnight, who were still active in 2024. He left The Shades of Midnight on 20 July 1969 with keyboard player, Les Thompson to form Dry Ice. It was with this band he was discovered by David Myers and John Worsley playing at The Marquis of Salisbury in Balls Pond Road N1. With them the band recorded one of Les Thompson's compositions, "Never", but session musicians were engaged to back Les Charles singing "Nashville Rain", his first single, backed with "Sun in the Morning", in 1971 for Spark Records. Les Charles left Dry Ice in February 1971 and for two years fronted a studio band called Scorched Earth, with whom he released "On The Run" backed with "Super Woman, Super Lover" in 1974.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.