Leslie Sebastian Charles, professionally known as, Billy Ocean, 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  No. 1's. His 1985 hit "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" reached  No. 1 in the UK and  No. 2 in the US. In 1985, Ocean won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his worldwide hit "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" and in 1987 was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist. His 1988 hit "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" reached  No. 1 in the US and  No. 3 in the UK.

In 2002, the University of Westminster, London, awarded Ocean an honorary doctorate of music. In 2010, Ocean was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MOBO Awards. On 29 July 2011, Ocean became a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, presented to him by Sir Paul McCartney. He is a member of the Rastafari movement.

He was exposed to music at an early age. During his teenage years, he sang regularly in London clubs while also working as a tailor in London's Savile Row. He was discovered by his first manager, John Morphew, who recorded a double A-side single at Pye Studios in London with a full orchestra. However, the ballad singing style of Les was going out of fashion and Morphew was unable to get any major label to release it. It remains unreleased. Les's father—who had countersigned the management contract as Les was underage—asked Morphew to release him from contract, which he did without penalty. In 1969 he joined a local band "The Shades of Midnight" playing in the Shoreditch area of London. He recorded his first single, "Nashville Rain" backed with "Sun In The Morning", in 1971 for Spark Records as Les Charles and for two years fronted a studio band called Scorched Earth, with whom he released "On The Run" backed with "Let's Put Our Emotions in Motion" in 1974.

Ocean took his stage name from the Ocean Estate, Stepney in London's East End, where he was living at the time. In 1976, he recorded his first album, Billy Ocean, with its first single release, "Love Really Hurts Without You", charting at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 22 in the US Billboard Hot 100. He enjoyed club success from the songs "Are You Ready" and "Stay The Night" from the album City Limit—both of which were later covered by La Toya Jackson. More successes ensued, including "L.O.D. (Love on Delivery)". He also wrote and composed songs for other artists. In 1981, he scored the US R&B chart with "Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)."

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