Billy Ocean - Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)

While Billy Ocean may have seemed like an overnight success, nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, he had been in the music business for 15 years prior to his rapid ascent to stardom.

Born as Leslie Charles in Trinidad and Tobago, Ocean moved to London as a child, and quickly became immersed in music (his father was also a musician).  By the late 1960s, Ocean was trying to make a go of it as a professional singer, which led to a name change -- Ocean supposedly comes from the Oceans 11 football team in Trinidad and Tobago.  He scored his first album in 1976, and had a few minor hits over the years, but few would have predicted his successes in the 1980s.

Ocean's fifth LP - 1984's Suddenly - blew up, and for several years Ocean was a bona fide star.   Between 1984 and 1989, he had 3 Top 20 albums, and 11 top 40 singles - including 3 #1s and 2 #2s.  Wow.

"Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" was the song that started the run.  The lead single off the Suddenly LP, it hit #1 in the U.S. (and #6 in the UK).  The video is pretty standard fare, but this is some well-crafted pop.

While Ocean's star faded somewhat after his 1980s heyday, he remains active in the industry as of this writing.

Note that the cool, and very weird video for Billy Ocean's "Loverboy" was posted on ERV in October 2021, as part of our annual All Hallows Even celebration.