Venue
British-Caribbean R&B singer with a career spanning five decades.
Before he was Billy Ocean, the influential R&B singer was born in Trinidad and Tobago as Leslie Charles.
Moving to England with his parents at ten, he quickly became immersed in London’s music scene, and flirted with a future as a recording artist from his early teen years. It wasn’t until 1971, however, that a twenty-one-year-old Ocean released his first single, ‘Nashville Rain’, under the name Les Charles. He continued to use the name for several years.
It wasn’t until it came time for him to release his debut album that ‘Les’ decided to change his moniker, lifting ‘Ocean’ from the name of a local football team back home in Trinidad and Tobago. The album and artist debuted under the same name, Billy Ocean.
With his label GTO, Ocean released four further albums, until his shift to Jive Records gave him his biggest break yet. His fifth studio album, Suddenly, was released in 1984, yielding his first number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 with lead track ‘Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)’. The song went on to win Ocean a Grammy Award, and Suddenly made the top ten in the US and UK album charts. Ocean saw similar success with albums Love Zone and Tear Down These Walls, released in 1986 and 1988 respectively. He is considered on of the most successful British R&B artists of the 80s.
To date, Ocean has released eleven studio albums, with his latest, One World, arriving in September 2020. In October 2010, Ocean was honoured at the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020 Ocean was further honoured with an MBE for services to music.
As the 'Caribbean Queen' singer prepares for his 2025 UK tour, we look back at Billy Ocean's breakout album in its 40th year
Fantastic concert at the Kelvingrove Bandstand. Billy Ocean sang solidly for an hour and a half without a break. He actually said he was singing with the audience, not the audience singing with him. A pure professional performance from him, his band and backing singers. Says he will return next year. And so will I 🤗
What an amazing night seeing the legend Billy Ocean. He was outstanding.i think this was the best gig I've ever been to at the Bandstand. The sun and lovely evening just made it perfect.
Fantastic evening; amazing weather and stunning venue! Billy Ocean was fabulous and the atmosphere was great. Everyone enjoyed the evening. The staff were superb, in great spirits and very helpful. And the bonus, there were no big queues for the bar or for the toilets!
Fantastic evening; amazing weather and stunning venue! Billy Ocean was fabulous and the atmosphere was great. Everyone enjoyed the evening. The staff were superb, in great spirits and very helpful. And the bonus, there were no big queues for the bar or for the toilets!
Absolutely brilliant! What a gig, loved every minute of it. The Kelvingrove Bandstand is a top class venue too, so well organised! Would do it all over again!
Really Good Venue Billy Ocean was Amazing and his band members, New songs and old favourites. Great lighting etc. Would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND AMAZING
Had a really lovely time. The only thing is to many people very hot.
Brilliant music. We sang and danced and made new friends.
Billy had the audience in the palm of his hands from minute 1. He (and his band) was fantastic!! I do wish people wouldn't spend the whole night filming on their phones though - quite distracting from the real experience.
Me and my 2 sisters had a great time.. he was amazing and the arena was really good (although expensive to eat and drink)
