When Trinidad and Tobago-born singer Billy Ocean recorded Caribbean Queen in 1984, he could have hardly imagined it would become an anthem for the region.
Billy Ocean felt happy with the track, pleased that it would be released as a single and proud that it would feature on the album Suddenly in 1984. He wasn’t aware at that point that the track had been picked for an upcoming episode of Miami Vice on TV - but as soon as Caribbean Queen aired on prime-prime-time television, Ocean’s international stardom was assured. The episode, The Prodigal Son” was watched by millions and it wasn’t long before the track became an unofficial anthem of the Caribbean region.
Born Leslie Sebastian Charles on 21 January 1950, Ocean chose his stage name to remind him of his coastal roots in Fyzabad, Trinidad and Tobago - the local sports team there was also called “the Oceaners”. His father Hainsley Charles was a Grenadian musician and when the family moved to Romford in England, Ocean’s mother Violet hoped her 10-year-old son would have a better life. It was 1960, just before Trinidad and Tobago became independent., and the family enjoyed music every day.
During his teenage years, Ocean began singing in London clubs, growing in confidence whilst training as a tailor in London's Savile Row. After a few false starts, Ocean joined a local band in 1968 and was a regular around the clubs of London with The Shades of Midnight. By 1971, he had recorded his first single, "Nashville Rain", backed with "Sun in the Morning" in 1971 for Spark Records under his own name Les Charles. For two years he fronted a studio band called Scorched Earth, with whom he released "On the Run" backed with "Let's Put Our Emotions in Motion" in 1974.
During the late 1970s and 1980s, the singer - who by now had changed his name to Billy Ocean - was enjoying greater acclaim. He had a string of R&Bhits, mainly in the UK, achieving UK Top 20 successes such as "Love Really Hurts Without You", charting at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, before a US audience finally discovered him. US No. 1’s followed and in 1985 Ocean won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" his global profile reached epic heights.
In February 1986, Ocean's video of "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" was famously banned by the BBC, owing to such non-union members as the American actors Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito, all three of whom were cast members of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, miming to the backing vocals. At the 1987 Brit Awards, Ocean was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist - proof that a BBC ban is excellent promotion and publicity!
In 2002, the University of Westminster, London, awarded Ocean an honorary doctorate of music. In 2010, Ocean was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MOBO Awards. On 29 July 2011, Ocean became a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, presented to him by Sir Paul McCartney.
Caribbean Queen remains incredibly special to Ocean as the song that won him the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance - the first British artist to win in that category. The song was recorded under different titles for different parts of the world - resulting in versions such as "European Queen" and "African Queen". In the US as “Caribbean Queen” the song charted for 26 weeks. It is now an anthem for the Caribbean region, re-released in 2004 as a digital single for its 20th anniversary, shooting up to number 25 on the Billboard digital singles chart. An instrumental version was used during the starting lineup for CBS' telecast of the 1986 Daytona 500.
Today Billy Ocean remains a member of the Rastafari movement and spends most of his time in England with his wife Judy. The couple has three children, including a son that represented Barbados at rugby sevens in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Caribbean Queen
She dashed by me in painted on jeans
And all heads turned 'cause she was the dream
In the blink of an eye I knew her number and her name yeah
