Trinidadian international music star, Billy Ocean, came onto the music scene in the early 1970s but stepped into the limelight in the mid to late 1980s. Although born Leslie Sebastian Charles in Trinidad on January 21, 1950, he decided to take on the name Billy Ocean after the name of Ocean Estate, a place he resided in London. When he released his first single in England, he initially went by the stage name Les Charles. What informed the name change remains unclear, but the undeniable fact is that he became a huge success under the stage name Billy Ocean.
Billy’s love for music was mainly influenced by his father, who was a musician. His earliest memory of a musical performance was in local London clubs, while he plied his trade as a tailor, New Jersey 101.5 reported. It is believed the artist also worked in a Ford Plant in London, where he was tasked to fix wiper blades on new cars. Though Billy released a couple of songs in the 1970s, what shot him into fame was his song “Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)” in the 1980s.
Although Billy was hoping his first single will be a hit, it only made it to the number of unsuccessful songs on the shelves of amateur artists. He had invested his all into it, investing every ingredient that made a song melodious. He was backed by a full orchestra in a London style and had adopted the single style of the early 1970s, but the ballad style didn’t interest producers or sponsors at the time.
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He however made some gains with his first album titled “Billy Ocean” in 1976. His first single on the album “Love Really Hurts Without You” made it to number 2 on the music charts in England and number 22 in the United States. Following, these achievements, Billy would continue to achieve an even bigger feat with the release of his song “Caribbean Queen” in the 1980s. Here are three interesting facts about Billy and his hit song “Caribbean Queen” you probably did not know about.
