Billy Ocean, whose real name is Leslie Sebastian Charles, is a singer from Trinidad & Tobago, whose father is a musician himself and who will emigrate to England with his parents at the age of 8.
He recorded his first Single "Nashville rain" in 1971. A highly successful Single.
Followed in 1974 with the Single "On the run" which he recorded with the group "Scorched Earth". Without more success.
Arrives the year 1976 and the release of his first album "Billy Ocean", as well as the Single "Love really hurts without you". This time, it's a hit !
Ephemeral success because it will take five long years before he returns to the latter in 1981 with the Single "Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)".
The real consecration arrived 3 years later, in 1984, with the release of the album "Suddenly" from which the flamboyant and enormous "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" would be extracted. Single that will set fire to all dancefloor on the planet.
Album from which another flagship title "Loverboy" will be released, which will be released in 1985.
The singer repeated in 1986 with the release of the album "Love zone", which contained the Single "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" which in turn became a Dance hit.
Another Single "" There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry) "released the same year will follow almost the same route.
Ditto in 1988 with the release of the album Tear down these walls ", album which will end album of Platinum and which contains a new hit "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car".
This incredible series of hits and first places in the Charts will end in 1993 with the release of the album "Time to move on" which for its part will be only a relative success.
But we will long remember this "Queen of the Caribbean" who ignited all the discotheques during the year 1984 !
To discover or rediscover...
Discography (among others ...) :
70s Decade :
• Reach out a hand (Les Charles) 1972
• On the run (Scorched Earth) 1974
• Love really hurts without you 1976
• L.O.D. (Love on delivery) 1976
• Stop me (If you've heard it all before) 1976
• Red light spells danger 1977
• Let's put our emotions in motion 1979
• American hearts 1979
80s Decade :
• Are you ready 1980
• Stay the night 1980
• Nights (Feel like getting down) 1981
• Another day won't matter 1981
• Caribbean queen 1984
• Lover boy 1985
• Suddenly 1985
• Mystery lady 1985
• The long and winding road 1985
• When the going gets tough 1986
• There’ll be sad songs 1986
• On the run (Hold on bother) 1986
• Love zone 1986
• Bittersweet 1986
• Love is forever 1986
• Get outta my dreams 1988
• Calypso crazy 1988
• The colour of love 1988
• Tear down these walls 1988
• Licence to Chill 1989
90s Decade :
• Pressure 1993
• Everything's so different without you 1993
2000s Decade :
• Baby can I hold you 2003
• Because I love you 2009
• Can't take it 2009
2010s Decade :
• Question is 2010
• Having a party 2013
• Love train 2014
• A simple game 2014
Tracks :
1972...the very first steps of the one who will become in a few years one of the sure values of the international music scene. But at this stage no one necessarily imagines it...
1974...the young singer increases in power year after year and learns the trade as they say. It only remains for him to prove that he can exist alone because he has everything he needs to...
1976 ... after several unsuccessful attempts, here comes the time for recognition. The artist signs his first global mega hit here. The first and certainly not the last !
1976 ... an obvious predisposition for Dance hits, that's clear. A magnificent year 1976 which positions him from the start as a future Grand !
1976 ... the pass of 3 ! A 3rd hit that ends a decisively exceptional year in style. Years like this ...
1977 ... a clearly less prolific year with only one title on the clock. With scarcity making it expensive, the result is immediate : a new world class hit !
1979 ... small empty passage in 1978. We thus find him in 1979 on an astonishing title, unclassifiable and which will not be classified elsewhere ...
1979 ... back to Dance with this little Disco gem perfectly representative of the atmosphere of the moment. A 70's decade that ends in the best way !
1980 ... change of decade, welcome to the Funky Music Galaxy. An adaptation which is done without problem and which foreshadows a gigantic suite ...
1980 ... another Dance track that works perfectly. One of many and probably not the last ...
1981 ... the years go by and look alike. Quality, efficiency, the artist becomes literally essential !
1981 ... a constant inspiration which makes each piece a success. The brand of the Great !
1984 ... THE title that will accelerate everything. This title literally sets fire to all Dancefloor on the planet and propels the singer to the top of Charts and fame. He signs here one of the biggest Dance hits of the decade and of the end of the XXth century. MO-NU-MEN-TAL !
1985 ... the year 1984 was exceptional for the artist with an unprecedented planetary consecration. 1985 will be even stronger. Yes Yes, it's possible ! Starting with this title, which once again sets Dancefloor on fire all over the planet !
1985 ... the WONDER ! Surely one of his titles among the most accomplished and the most inspired. A sumptuous Ultimate slow that will undoubtedly remain one of the most beautiful of the decade !
1985 ... a new pass of 3 ! After 1976, 1985 will remain as the most incredible and glorious year for the artist
1985 ... the new WONDER ! A new Ultimate Slow of great beauty on a luxury cover of the Beatles title dating from 1970. An Ultimate Slow just as incredible as the previous one and which however will not have at all the same level of success. Go figure ...
1986 ... the title which will make him enter definitively in the musical legend of the 80s. Here he simply signs the biggest commercial success of his whole career and sets fire to all Dancefloor on the planet once again. A mania with him !
1986 ... the "Crooner" is back for this new ballad. The first title of a year which will remain as his best vintage. And yes, he had not yet given everything. Incredible but true !
1986 ... the only title of this incredible year which will not be classified. And yet, he would have largely deserved it !
1986 ... and it continues ! An incredible wave of hits that really makes this year 1986 a remarkable year in all respects. The artist literally walks on water !
1986 ... 4th top hit of the year ! Few will have been able to boast of having done so well !
1986 ... another tender break and surely one of his most beautiful titles. He definitely excels in all areas. What talent !
1988 ... sabbatical year in 1987. Here he is back in 1988 in a dazzling form and pumped up. Race result : new top global mega-hit. But who will be the last at such a level ...
1988 ... the suite is of quality but struggles to compete with the previous gem. In an ocean of mega hits, it is not always easy to exist ...
1988 ... back in the Intimist and once again, it works perfectly. 17 years after its beginnings, still as effective, still as inspired !
1988 ... the least 'prestigious' title of the year. When we see its qualitative level, many artists would be largely satisfied !
1989 ... only one title for the year 1989 but once again, a title that hits the bull's eye ! A last top hit story to end the decade in style !
1993 ... he will have crossed 2 decades with extreme brio. The third will not really be the most favorable to him on the Charts side. A last hit to end an absolutely sumptuous career !
1993... come on, the adventure is not quite over. He will continue to produce titles thereafter and when we see what he continues to offer, we necessarily want more..
2003...then a big air hole for 10 years. We thought we had lost him definitively but here he is reborn from its ashes at the beginning of the 2000s. All thanks to this revisited version of Tracy Chapman's title dating from 1988 which works very well...
2009...he disappears from the radar again for almost 6 years. Times are getting harder and harder for the singer but he comes back again and again. A desire to believe in it always and again which undeniably commands respect...
2009...certainly it is clear that he does more some figuration now than anything else but he is still there in any case. Which is far from being the case for most of those he rubbed shoulders with during his heyday...
2010...40 years of career on the clock and the least we can say is that he continues to hold the house as they say. Talent, it's clear, it doesn't disappear overnight...
2013...we don't know how long the adventure will continue but in any case it lasts. Far from the top of the Charts, or even far from the Charts at all. But it lasts...
2014...an artist who never gives up and who will go all the way as long as he can. A longevity that is exceptional to say the least, and which, as always, is only found among the most gifted...
2016...the adventure won't go any further, at least for now. Because we know, with him, nothing is ever finished so we imagine that we risk finding him later, that's for sure...
Wiki :
Official Website :
https://www.billyocean.com/ Greatest Hits :
Discography :