Caribbean King readies to wow audience in Sri Lanka

By Cheranka Mendis

Billy Ocean has sold over 30 million records in his lifetime. Beginning his career in the 1970s, Billy Ocean has a collection of Gold and Platinum records from across the world, one Grammy and has hit number one spot worldwide on pop charts including the USA, Australia, Germany, Holland, and the UK.

Achieving success as an artist and songwriter, Billy Ocean was in 2002 awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Westminster, London. A man who has not let stardom get to his head, Ocean is now in Sri Lanka to perform at his concert today evening at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Meeting the press yesterday, the 62-year-old artiste spoke of his career, success and what he holds closest to his heart- his beliefs and faiths.

Changing his name from Lesley Sebastian Charles to Billy Ocean, “because my real name sounds like a lawyer’s name,” Ocean put in all his efforts into his music.

“I feel like I was singing before I even started talking,” he said. “When I was 12 years old I knew I wanted to sing. I was not very good academically, so I threw all my efforts into it. I used to sit in class and dream about the instruments I could make from the Milo and Milk tins when I got back home.”

With a passion for music not even he could fully describe, Ocean grew up with calypso music as his father was a Calysonian.

What changed things for him was when his father brought home a radio. “I do not know where he got it from. We were poor then. He was a fisherman, a carpenter, a gardener and anything he could be to get money to feed four kids. But when he bought the radio I was exposed to international music.”

His first influence was Natalie Cole, he said followed by the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The American pop culture and reggae which soon came to be known thereafter all helped him learn his music. “I learnt my trade from all these people.”

Ocean moved to England when he was 10 years old from Trinidad as the opportunities for kids growing up there then was quite low.

“Music is what got me to the stage and what fed me and took me to places and people. Music is very important to me; and whether it is for self, country, record company, manager, or as a profession when you represent yourself, you represent all that is around you. And I am glad to be doing that.”

Ocean acknowledged that music is something he taught himself. When he was trying to enter the industry, it was full of independent producers who gave the artistes names holding the right to take it back when they pleased. “I did what I considered was right; I learnt to sing, to write and to record and to get my own name. So when the time was right I used my own name which was Billy Ocean and became successful with it.”  In 1976, he recorded his first album with its first single release ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ charting at number two in the UK Singles Chart. Success followed him thereafter but in 1984 with ‘Suddenly’ and ‘Caribbean Queen,’ his fame skyrocketed. The latter won him his first and only Grammy in 1985. He continued winning many awards and Platinum and Gold Discs thereafter.

Of his awards and Grammy, Ocean said: “Over the years I have won many awards. I never put them up on display because I did not want that to influence my kids or me. For me life is something new every day and you have to keep on going; I did not want it to limit my appetite. I did not want it to get to me.” He recently rece-ived the title of Honorary Member of Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts as well.

Touring with his 10-member band formed in 2007 of which his eldest daughter Cherie is a part, Ocean claims it was the continuity and consistency of the band that has taken him places.

“I feel responsible for the 10 people I work with. They have been with me since 2007; five lovely years. It is very important at my age to have the right people and if not for them, I would not be here.”

Speaking of his family, he said he has three kids: “Well actually not kids, they are big people.” While his eldest Cherie sings with him, he has a son and another daughter who is a teacher. “Cherie always followed me, even when she was a kid. She always wanted to come with me and I am very glad of it. My wife is the one who supports everything and keep things solid for us.”

A vegetarian since 1989, Ocean spoke firmly on being a vegetarian and the use of drugs. After the passing away of his mother he became more spiritual he said, reading the Bible his mother gifted to him many times over.

“I became a Rasta afterwards and gave up pork. Soon I stopped eating other meats. When you are vegetarian, you can taste lettuce and tomatoes which you don’t taste otherwise because the taste of the meat dominates everything. So I think it is a good choice. I think everyone should become a vegetarian. When you kill an animal for meat, the animal dies in fear, which cannot be good for us.”

He added: “I also believe in Jesus Christ so I have to live my life in a certain way. I would not say I am perfect, but I do try to be myself. I think it is very important for individual to represent themselves in the right way.”

“Drugs are in fashion, in business; even the dustman on the street will have drugs, which is really unfortunate. I would not recommend it to anybody. If you are a public figure you have to set examples; you should not been seen doing things that could influence people negatively. You can do whatever you want to do but I think it is crazy that you would want to put things in your system that can kill you. You see the casualties. I don’t do drugs.” His feeling towards modern music is that with technology, the soul of the music is slowly dying. “I am not criticising it,” Ocean commented, “But for me with all the technology now, it has taken some of the soul and life out of the music. It has become very mechanical. We now listen to songs we can’t sing along to anymore. Over the years we have sacrificed melodies and concept and sing-alongs to this. It might be efficient but it has lost its soul.” This is his first time in Sri Lanka and Ocean expressed excitement over today’s show. “I perform anywhere people invite me to. In Sri Lanka the welcome has been great, the food has been great and the people have been great.”

However his ties with Sri Lanka are long-standing. “My daughter’s best friend is a girl from Sri Lanka called Anjalika. They went to school together and knew each other from the time they were kids.”

The show will last two hours and feature 16 songs picked from the ’70s to right across the 21st Century and Ocean has selected some of the best known songs.

“I think it is important that when you sing, you sing songs the audience knows and can enjoy. There is nothing like a roomful of people singing. They are enjoying themselves and watching them I enjoy myself. You feel good from the inside.”

 – Pix by Upul Abayasekara