Ocean, Billy (originally, Charles, Leslie Sebastian)

Ocean, Billy (originally, Charles, Leslie Sebastian), pop-soul singer who enjoyed success in the mid-1980s; b. Trinidad, West Indies, Jan. 21, 1950. One of the vast numbers of Caribbeans who immigrated to Britain, Billy Ocean was raised in England. He subsidized a career as a session singer by working days at the Ford Motor plant. He was signed as a solo artist and scored an international hit in 1976 with “Lover Really Hurts without You,” which hit #22 on the U.S. pop charts. A minor hit, “Red Light Spells Danger,” followed, and then he went back to the session singer/day job routine, this time as a Saville Row tailor. He moved to the United States in the late 1970s and recorded a series of less-than-commercial albums, scoring a minor dance hit with “Night (Feel Like Getting Down).”

Finally, Ocean’s manager suggested he work with producer Keith Diamond. The result was Ocean’s Arista-label debut, Suddenly. The album generated four hit singles on the way to selling double platinum. The gold chart topper “Caribbean Queen” led the charge with its raucous rock meets techno-soul sound, with Ocean’s tenor reaching for the sky. The #2 “Lover Boy” had a very similar sound. The title track, a ballad in the mold of Jeffrey Osbourne and Quincy Jones, reached #4. “Mystery Lady” climbed to #24. The album topped out at #9.

Suddenly, Ocean was a hot property. He was asked to sing the theme song for The Jewel of the Nile, the sequel to the very successful film Romancing the Stone. His song, “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” had an almost martial feel to it, rising to #2. It presaged Ocean’s own next album, Love Zone. The next single, the ballad “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” topped the pop, adult-contemporary, and R&B charts. The title track also topped the R&B charts, going Top Ten pop. The album rose to #6 and went double platinum.

Ocean kicked off his next album, Tear Down These Walls, with yet another chart-topping single, the rocking “Get outta My Dreams, Get into My Car.” However, the follow-up singles were disappointing: the ballad “The Colour of Love” reached #17, and “License to Chill” stalled at #32. The album reached only #18, although it did go platinum. During the 1990s, Ocean recorded several more albums, but his career never regained its forward momentum. In 1999, the boy band N’Sync covered Ocean’s “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going.”

Discography

Billy Ocean (1975); City Limit (1980); Nights (Feel Like Getting Down) (1981); Inner Feelings (1982); Suddenly (1984); Love Zone (1986); Tear Down These Walls (1988); Time to Move On (1993); L.LF.E.(1997).

—Hank Bordowitz