Billy Ocean Billy Ocean Billy Ocean (born Leslie Sebastian Charles; 21 January 1950) is a Trinidadian-English recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-songwriter of the early to mid-1980s. After scoring his first four UK Top 20 successes, seven years passed before he accumulated a series of transatlantic successes, including three US number ones. His 1985 hit "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" reached number one in the UK and number two in the US. In 1985, Ocean won the Grammy Award for
Billy Name background in lighting and experimental approach to his work, resulted in a body of work which captured the "silver years" at the Factory (1963–70). Name's close friendship with Warhol - and his role in creating Warhol's artistic environment - provided him with a unique perspective of the Factory, with a particular focus on a core group of "superstars", who largely improvised before the camera. Name is the "Billy" in the Velvet Underground's song "The Story of My Life," written by Lou Reed (1969). He is mentioned in Lloyd Cole's song "Cut Me Down", "I've been Billy Name and filled my