Billy Ocean amongst Hamptons Jazz fest headliners
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Tuesday October 17, 2017 12:38
According to event manager, David Letshwiti, Billy Ocean whose birth name is Leslie Sebastian Charles will be performing in Botswana for the first time. He said the legendary singer was excited to perform at the Hamptons Jazz Festival next year.
“Ocean has never performed in Botswana (before) and is excited. He has sold over 30 million records in his lifetime,” he said.
Has collected a pile of Gold and Platinum records across the world and hit the number one spot worldwide on pop charts including the USA, Australia, Germany, Holland, and the UK. Billy Ocean has achieved extraordinary success as both an artist and a songwriter.
Born in Trinidad, the singer settled in London’s East End when he was just seven-years-old. The calypso crazy kid soon got turned on to soul singers like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, as well as pop groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, leading him to spend much of his study time in the music room.
Billy Ocean got his first break when he signed to GTO records, for whom his second single was the Motown-ish Love Really Hurts Without You, which reached number two in the UK charts and Number 12 in the US.
Two 20 singles followed along with Love on Delivery and Stop Me, then Red Light Spells Danger became a smash hit in both the UK and the US.
Billy Ocean changed record labels and his move to Jive Records provided instant success, with the million selling American number one single Caribbean Queen (for which Billy Ocean won a Grammy for best R&B Vocal), followed by Loverboy, and Suddenly, which became the first of Billy’s killer ballads. The album from which these singles came from spent a year in the US Charts selling double platinum (triple in Canada). Billy also performed on the American half of Live Aid, making 1985 a truly incredible year for him.
Also, 1986 wasn’t bad as he opened it with When the Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going), the theme song to the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner/Danny Devito movie Jewel of the Nile. Billy Ocean then launched the Love Zone album, which went straight to number two in the UK charts, staying in the top 40 for six months. In the US, there was a number one single with There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry). More Hits were to follow with the now classic Get Outta My Dreams; Get Into My Car, giving Billy Ocean yet another US No.1 hit.
More hits followed as Billy Ocean also proved himself to be one of the most hardworking artists on the live stage, touring the world to ever-growing enthusiastic audiences. 2010 saw Billy Ocean on the road again with his band in the UK, Europe and the US and the release of ‘The Very Best of Billy Ocean’, which entered the UK album charts at number 17 and sold 72,000 copies in four weeks. In 2016 he announced the release of his double CD ‘Here You Are: The Best Of Billy Ocean’, featuring new tracks and along with a selection of his greatest hits.
Above all, Letshwiti said they the iconic Soccer Moruakgomo, the best trumpeter in the country and jazz maestro Thabang Garokwe would also be headlining the Hamptons Jazz Festival next year.
“The Hamptonettes also voted for Bra Hugh Masekela. However, we will approach him after his recovery and we wish him a quick recovery. More local and international artists to follow as the Hamptonettes are currently voting for their preferences,” he said. He noted that the festival would be held at Duma Grounds adding that logistics had been prepped. He said in line with the new government directive, cooler boxes and bottles would not be allowed at the grounds.
Early tickets for the March 24, 2018 event will be on sale on October 27, this year.