Billy Ocean

Pop singer Billy Ocean had been performing professionally for nearly 15 years before he broke through in the ’80s with a string of seven Top 10 hits, including three that reached No. 1 on the US pop charts. • A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Ocean moved to England when he was 10. He sang in clubs as a teenager while also working for a tailor in Savile Row before he began releasing singles in the early ’70s. • Two of Ocean’s songs peaked at No. 2 on the UK singles chart in the ’70s: “Love Really Hurts Without You” in 1976 and “Red Light Spells Danger” in 1977. • After four albums between 1976 and 1982 that attracted little notice, Ocean made the Top 10 in the UK and US with his 1984 release, Suddenly. The album yielded three Top 10 hits, including Ocean’s first No. 1 US single: “Carribean Queen (No More Love on the Run)”. The song won a Grammy in 1985 for Best Male R&B Performance. • Ocean’s follow-up, 1986’s Love Zone, made it to No. 6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (No. 2 in the UK) and included the hit single “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going”, an international hit that reached No. 2 in the US and No. 1 in the UK. • The singer earned his third and (so far) final No. 1 with “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car”, from his 1988 album Tear Down These Walls. The theatrical heavy metal band GWAR later covered the song. • After a long pause between 1993 and 2009, Ocean resumed releasing albums, including 2020’s One World. Also in 2020, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his contributions to music.