Leslie Sebastian Charles, aka Billy Ocean, was born in Fyzabad, Trinidad and Tobago and moved to England with his family at the age of eight. In his teenage years, he sang regularly in London clubs. He released his first single in 1972 on Spark Records as Les Charles.

By 1976 he had adopted the name Billy Ocean and recorded his debut album, Billy Ocean, with the first single, “Love Really Hurts Without You,” charting at number 2 in the United Kingdom and number 22 in the United States. More hits followed, such as “L.O.D. (Love On Delivery)”. He also wrote songs for other artists such as LaToya Jackson. In 1982 he hit the U.S. Rhythm and Blues Chart with “Nights (Feel Like Getting Down).”

Ocean’s period of greatest success began with Suddenly in 1984 and its main single “Caribbean Queen”. The song’s title and lyrics were changed for different regions, such that the song is also known as “African Queen” or ... read more »