Billy Ocean
Billy Ocean's string of smash international hits in the '80s -- starting with 1984's "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" and running through 1988's "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" -- tends to obscure his enduring success in his home base of the United Kingdom. Although new hits dried up for Ocean after the '90s, his '80s singles -- which also include the ballads "Suddenly" and "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" along with the bouncy, inspirational "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" -- retained their popularity, allowing the singer to sustain a career into the 21st century.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Billy Ocean -- born Leslie Sebastian Charles on January 21, 1950 -- moved to England with his family when he was ten years old, gravitating toward music not much later. At first taken with calypso music, he soon learned to love soul and rock, then started to play clubs when he was a teenager. He released two singles as Les Charles in 1971 ("Nashville Rain") and 1972 ("Reach Out a Hand") before singing with Scorched Earth on the 1974 single "On the Run." A year later, he adopted the stage name Billy Ocean and had a number two U.K. hit with "Love Really Hurts Without You," a single that also managed to reach 22 on Billboard's Hot 100. "Love Really Hurts Without You" anchored his 1975 self-titled debut, which generated two further U.K. hits in "L.O.D. (Love on Delivery)" and "Stop Me (If You've Heard It All Before)." The non-LP single "Red Light Spells Danger" went all the way to two in 1977, but the singles from his 1979 album City Limit didn't crack the Top 40. Its two successors -- 1981's Nights (Feel Like Getting Down) and 1982's Inner Feelings -- didn't manage to generate hits in the U.K., but "Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)" did make it into the U.S. R&B Top Ten in 1981.
Ocean's career truly took off in 1984, when "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" was released as the first single from his fifth album, Suddenly. "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)," which was released as "European Queen" and "African Queen" in regional markets, rocketed into the Top Ten throughout the world, peaking at two in the U.S. and six in the U.K. Two other major hits followed in 1985 -- the rocker "Loverboy," which went to two in the U.S., and the ballad "Suddenly," which peaked at four on Billboard -- establishing Billy Ocean as an international star. Released at the beginning of 1986, Love Zone consolidated Ocean's success via the chart-topping singles "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" and "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)"; additionally, it generated the U.S. Top 20 hits "Love Zone" and "Love Is Forever." Tear Down These Walls, released in 1988, kept Ocean's momentum going thanks to the major hit "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car." This hot streak was summarized on 1989's Greatest Hits, which went platinum in the U.S., U.K., and Canada.
Ocean took a hiatus after Tear Down These Walls, returning in 1993 with the R. Kelly-produced Time to Move On. This R&B-dominated album proved to be his last for over a decade and a half. During this extended hiatus, he concentrated on raising a family, returning to action in 2007 with a worldwide tour. He followed this comeback with 2009's Because I Love You, his first album in 16 years. A year later, the U.K. hits compilation The Very Best of Billy Ocean reached 17 on the charts. In 2013, he released Here You Are, an album of covers of his favorite songs. Three years after its original release, Here You Are was repackaged with a bonus disc of greatest hits for a U.K. re-release, which was followed a year later by a U.S. release that paired the album with his five biggest hits. In 2020, Ocean re-teamed with long-time writing collaborator Barry Eastmond for the LP One World.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
Artisti simili
-
The Very Best of Billy Ocean
Soul/Funk/R&B - Pubblicato da Sony Music UK il 23 apr 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Suddenly (Expanded Edition)
Soul/Funk/R&B - Pubblicato da Sony Music UK il 10 set 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Zone (Expanded Edition)
Soul/Funk/R&B - Pubblicato da Sony Music UK il 20 gen 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nights (Feel Like Getting Down) (Expanded Edition)
Soul/Funk/R&B - Pubblicato da Sony Music UK il 5 gen 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tear Down These Walls
Pop - Pubblicato da Sony Music CG il 1 gen 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Inner Feelings (Expanded Edition)
Soul/Funk/R&B - Pubblicato da Sony Music UK il 1 apr 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Here You Are: The Best of Billy Ocean
Pop - Pubblicato da Sony Music CG il 13 apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Billy Ocean (Expanded Edition)
Pop - Pubblicato da Sony Music UK il 5 gen 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Here You Are: The Best of Billy Ocean
Pop - Pubblicato da Sony Music CG il 22 apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Really Hurts Without You: The Greatest Hits of Billy Ocean
R&B - Pubblicato da Sony Music CG il 2 lug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
City Limit (Expanded Edition)
Pop - Pubblicato da Sony Music UK il 1 lug 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Let's Get Back Together - The Love Songs Of Billy Ocean
Pop - Pubblicato da Jive il 1 gen 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lovely Day
Billy Ocean, The Young Voices Choir
Pop - Pubblicato da Magic Star il 29 gen 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
We Gotta Find Love (Acoustic)
Pop - Pubblicato da Sony Music CG il 3 set 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
On The Run - EP
Elettronica - Pubblicato da Essential Media Group il 14 dic 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Train (Remixes)
Pop - Pubblicato da Aqua Music Limited il 14 dic 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liberdad
Manuel Gimenez, Billy Ocean, Fawijo
World music - Pubblicato da Newton Rec. - LA. Clip il 5 dic 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cares Away
Hip-Hop/Rap - Pubblicato da Cracked Spud Records il 5 set 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billy Ocean (Expanded Edition)
Pop - Pubblicato da Sony Music CG il 5 gen 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo