Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean was born in Fyzabad, Trinidad and Tobago to Grenadian parents, and moved to England with his family at the age of eight. Oceans' musical influence came at an early age of his life, as his father was a musician, and realised he was inline to follow those ambitions as he was growing up. During his teenage years, he sang regularly in London clubs while also working as a tailor in London's Savile Row.He released his first single in 1972 on Spark Records as Les Charles.

When in Trinidad as a boy he adopted the name Billy Ocean, taking the surname from the local football team 'Ocean's Eleven', who got the name from the film of the same name. In 1976, he recorded his first album, Billy Ocean, with its first single release, "Love Really Hurts Without You," charting at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and number 22 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. He enjoyed club success from the songs "Are You Ready" and "Stay The Night" from the album City Limit - "Stay The Night" was later covered by La Toya Jackson. More successes ensued, including "L.O.D. (Love On Delivery)".

He also wrote songs for other artists, such as La Toya Jackson.In 1981, he scored the U.S. R&B chart with "Nights".Ocean's period of greatest success began with Suddenly during 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 "European Queen". The song won Ocean the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1985 Grammy Awards. The album's title track also became a success, peaking at #4 in both the US and the UK and the song "Loverboy", while also being a #2 US success in 1985 was also featured in the first scene of the popular UK BBC One TV series, Casualty, in 1986.

Ocean appeared at Live Aid in 1985, singing "Caribbean Queen" and "Loverboy", from the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.