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 T. James Empire for services to entertainment. In 1986 Billy and Chris Slane published "Real Hard Case" which contained comic-strip interpretations of Billy's comedy. "Real Hard Case 2" followed in 1987. During this period his name and likeness was used for the company "Billy T's Hangi Takeaways," with locations in Auckland, but the business did not last and closed after several years. In 1990 Billy received the prestigious Benny Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand Inc for a lifetime of excellence in the performing arts. Billy T James self-titled television show for TVNZ featured sketch comedy and live performances