Billy Ocean

Biography

Billy Ocean was born Leslie Charles in Fyzbad, Trinidad. He moved to England at the age of eight. As a teenager he began performing in the London Club scene and he released his first single in 1974 under the name Scorched Earth. He worked at Ford Motors while writing and recording songs. He quit Ford after scoring a worldwide hit with a pop-soul song called Love Really Hurts Without You. Hitting #2 in the U.K. and #22 in the U.S. Other hits were to follow during the 70's such as L.O.D. (Love On Delivery) and he also began to write songs for artists like LaToya Jackson. In 1982 crossed over unto the U.S. r&b charts with Nights (Feel Like Getting Down). Two years later, Ocean became a International star when Caribbean Queen went to #1 on the pop and r&b charts becoming a worldwide hit. The song was also released around the world as both African Queen and European Queen with tailored lyrics for each of these markets and both just as successful as Caribbean Queen. A cover of Prince's Loverboy and the ballad Suddenly Were also successful...