Love Really Hurts Without You Love Really Hurts Without You "Love Really Hurts Without You" is a song recorded by British R&B recording artist Billy Ocean. The song – written by Ocean under his real name Les[lie] Charles with the track's producer Ben Findon – was the second single recorded in the name Billy Ocean (although the singer had had several previous releases using other stage names) and provided Ocean with his first chart record in 1976. The song remains tied with the 1977 #2 UK hit "Red Light Spells Danger" as Ocean's second best all-time UK charting record, after "When the Going Gets Tough,
What Is Life with whom he had toured during the final months of the Beatles. Harrison co-produced the recording with Phil Spector, whose Wall of Sound production also employed a prominent string arrangement by John Barham and multiple acoustic rhythm guitars, played by Harrison's fellow Apple Records signings Badfinger. An uptempo composition in the soul genre, "What Is Life" is one of several Harrison love songs that appear to be directed at both a woman and a deity. Harrison wrote the song in 1969 and originally intended it as a track for his friend and Apple protégé Billy Preston to record. Built around