JANICE'S BLUES ALLEY PRESENTS
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Billy Ocean was one of the first Caribbean singers to be embraced by MTV, resulting in a string of Top Ten hits during the mid-'80s. Born Leslie Charles in Trinidad on January 21, 1950, Ocean moved to England at the age of eight, and by his teenaged years, was singing regularly in London clubs. During this time, Ocean paid the bills by working at Ford Motors, but continued to pen songs and perform, as he issued an obscure debut single in 1974 under the name of Scorched Earth. But by 1975, the singer had dropped his alias and was going by Billy Ocean, resulting in a self-titled debut that spawned the singer's first hit single, "Love Really Hurts Without You," peaking on the singles chart at number two in the United Kingdom and number 22 in the United States. Ocean continued to issue albums (1980's City Limit, 1981's Nights (Feel Like Getting Down), and 1982's Inner Feelings) plus further singles, with "L.O.D. (Love on Delivery)" and the title track from Nights (the latter of which crossed over onto the U.S. R&B charts) being sizeable hits; as he also began penning songs for other artists, including a track on LaToya Jackson's 1980 self-titled debut.
But breakthrough success was just around the corner for Ocean, as he scored a massive hit single in 1984 with "Caribbean Queen," a track that shot to the top of the charts worldwide. Depending on the region, the song's title and lyrics were changed slightly, resulting in the tune being known as "African Queen" and "European Queen" in other parts of the world, while the album it was taken from, Suddenly, was eventually certified double platinum (a few other singles, "Loverboy" and the ballad "Suddenly," were also successful). Ocean's winning streak continued with 1986's Love Zone (another double-platinum hit), which spawned a pair of hit singles: "When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going" (which was used as the theme song to the movie Jewel of the Nile), which peaked at number two, and the number-one "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)." 1988 saw Ocean score another number-one single with "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car," taken from the platinum album Tear Down These Walls. But afterward, the hits dried up for Ocean (although his 1989 collection, Greatest Hits, has been a steady seller over the years), as such further albums as Time to Move On, L.I.F.E., and Showdown failed to spawn hits. -- by Greg Prato of All Music Guide.
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1975 Billy Ocean | |||
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01. Tell Him To Move Over 02. Stop Me(if you've heard it all before) 03. Let's Put Our Emotions In Motion 04. Let's Do It All Again 05. Love Really Hurts Without You 06. Whose Little Girl Are You |
07. Soul Rock 08. One Kiss Away 09. Hungry For Love 10. Eye Of A Storm 11. L. O. D. (love on delivery) | ||
1980 City Limit | |||
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01. Stay The Night 02. What You Doing To Me 03. Who's Gonna Rock You 04. Maybe Tonight 05. City Limit |
06. Are You Ready 07. Whatever Turns You On 08. Taking Chances 09. American Hearts | ||
1981 Nights (Feel Like Getting Down) | |||
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01. Are You Ready 02. Don't Say Stop 03. Whatever Turns You On 04. Another Day Won't Matter 05. Nights (feel like getting down) 06. Who's Gonna Rock You 07. Stay The Night |
08. Everlasting Love 09. Taking Chances 10. Are You Ready (12' version) 11. Stay The Night (12' version) 12. Nights (feel like getting down) [single version] 13. Another Day Won't Matter [single version] | ||
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1982 Inner Feelings | |||
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01. Calypso Funkin' 02. Rock-A-Bye Baby 03. No Matter What 04. Dance With Me 05. I Can't Stop 06. Tryin' To Get Through To You 07. Mind Games 08. Was It You |
09. Inner Feelings 10. Smile 11. Somebody 12. City Limit (alternative version) 13. Calypso Funkin' (single version) 14. Was It You (single version) 15. Inner Feelings (single version) | ||
1984 Suddenly | |||
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01. Caribbean Queen 02. Mystery Lady 03. Syncopation 04. The Long And Winding Road 05. Loverboy |
06. Lucky Man 07. Dance Floor 08. If I Should Lose You 09. Suddenly | ||
1986 Love Zone | |||
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01. When The Going Gets Tough 02. Love Zone 03. Without You 04. There'll Be Sad Songs 05. Bitter Sweet |
06. It's Never Too Late To Try 07. Showdown 08. Promise Me 09. Love Is Forever | ||
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1988 Tear Down These Walls | |||
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01. Tear Down These Walls 02. Gun For Hire 03. Stand And Deliver 04. The Colour Of Love 05. Calypso Crazy |
06. Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car 07. Soon As You're Ready 08. Pleasure 09. Because Of You 10. Here's To You | ||
1993 Time To Move On | |||
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01. Pick Up The Pieces, Put It Back 02. Pressure 03. Upside Down 04. Everyday Sunshine 05. Stand Up, Stand Up 06. The World Wants To Dance |
07. Time To Move On 08. Rose 09. Can We Go 'Round Again 10. Everything's So Different Without You 11. I'll Be There For You 12. On Your Knees | ||
2002 Emotions In Motion | |||
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01. Love Really Hurts Without You 02. Emotions In Motion 03. On The Run (the battle is over) 04. Whose Little Girl Are You 05. He Ain't As Black As He's Painted 06. What's Gonna Happen To Our Love |
07. Wild Beautiful Woman 08. Light Up The World With Sunshine 09. Can You Feel It 10. Eye Of A Storm 11. Hungry For Love 12. Super Woman, Super Lover | ||
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2003 Let's Get Back Together: The Love Songs Of Billy Ocean | |||
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01. Everything's So Different Without You 02. Suddenly 03. There'll Be Sad Songs 04. Love Is Forever 05. Colour Of Love 06. The Long And Winding Road 07. Let's Get Back Together 08. Baby, Can I Hold You |
09. Promise Me 10. Here's To You 11. Because Of You 12. Rose 13. Our Love Will Survive 14. Three Little Birds 15. Can We Go 'Round Again? | ||
2009 Because I Love You | |||
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01. Everything To Me 02. Baby Don't Go 03. Happy Refrain 04. I Remember 05. My Lady 06. The Question Is |
07. Because I Love You 08. Can't Take It 09. Tenderness 10. Father Returns 11. Rastafari 12. Boogie | ||
