Billy Ocean was back in Liverpool as part of his latest sold-out nostalgia-soaked tour, proving he is still a hit with the ladies (and gentlemen) as he crooned and strutted his stuff like a man much younger than his 68 years.
As a Companion of LIPA since 2011, he’s certainly familiar with these parts, although we didn’t get much between-song patter to connect with – it was all about the songs.
The songs and the dancing. He paced the stage from side to side throughout, stopping regularly for selfies, kisses or handshakes with those in the crowd who were clearly delighted to relive their younger days down the local disco.
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He mixed this in with some pseudo-moonwalking and other seriously funky dance moves as the mood struck him. He looked the part too, sporting a rather mad near-white sculpted Afro hairstyle and smooth three-piece suit.
Born in Trinidad, but raised in Romford in Essex from the age of ten, he played in several bands before breaking through as a solo performer.
He hit the Top 10 in the UK six times between 1976 and 1988, with all of these most beloved of his tunes unsurprisingly featuring in his set-list.
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However, he started more slowly with a medley of three lesser-known numbers, with his radio microphone seemingly struggling to cut through the music at times.
, his first hit record that made it all the way to number two. This one was pretty much just one long chorus.
Things settled back down into more mid-tempo loving, as he gamely leant down to pose for pictures or plant a kiss on adoring members of the audience while continuing to perform.
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Was spoiled by that old gig bugbear – the incredibly loud chat from some people a couple of rows behind. Fortunately, this was soon sorted.
Kudos to the backing band, who serviced the songs effectively and never got in the way of the main man, with only
Featuring a gratuitous guitar solo, as the backing singers (including his daughter Chérie Charles) took on some of the heavy lifting of the highest notes that are now less comfortable for an old man to sing.
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He came back after the audience chanted his name, staying just the right side of cheese as he promoted the products on offer at his merch stall, and introduced the band.
Proceedings had kicked off with Sarah-Jane, ‘sold’ to this writer by the man on the merch stall as being someone who had made the final of the Dutch version of
She was slick, soulful and clunkily funky, backed by a three-piece band who at times seemed to be playing three different songs at once.
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She gamely tried to get the crowd going and up for Billy Ocean, but it was all a little too uninspired for this curmudgeon, even when one of the songs bizarrely brought to mind Rage Against The Machine’s
Next Article Jazz intensity hots up in Liverpool as Greg Abate, Eirik Svela and Parrjazz at Jac Phase One get ready to rollHaving found fame in an industry with many perils, the legendary British singer says that Rastafari became his “anchor, ” keeping him grounded, not only in his career, but in his life.
“Being in the public eye, I believe you need to have something as an anchor, ” says the 63-year-old star. “That’s what Rasta is for me. Rasta isn’t just about growing locks. It’s about the study of Jesus Christ – His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie.
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“Rasta has taught me more than the church ever did. It taught me that the Bible is deeper than what it tells us from cover to cover. It teaches us that His Imperial Majesty is more than just an emperor – he is Jesus Christ.”
Attending church as a child, the Trinidad-born singer says that if his parents were alive, they would be stunned to learn that their son had embraced the Rastafari way of life, not least because they would reject the Rasta belief that the Messiah is the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie – a black man.
“If my mother and father could see me now, they would freak, ” Ocean admits with a chuckle. “They wouldn’t believe it because they still had the slave mentality.
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“That’s why I believe in His Imperial Majesty, because for years, the knowledge we [black people] had, always came from somebody else. Knowledge never came from black people. So the idea of believing that Jesus Christ was Haile Selassie – a black man – my parents would never have believed it. But the facts are there. If black people can’t believe that, what are we looking for?”
Ocean also explains that his faith keeps him steadfast when authorities seek to “indoctrinate” society on what he believes to be important issues.
“Homosexuality isn’t new – it’s been around since [Biblical cities] Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s fine – do your thing. But for people to now try and indoctrinate me that it’s ok for a man to marry a man, I’m sorry, but that is unnatural.
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“I’m not against homosexuality. But trying to indoctrinate people with the idea of gay marriage… it has the potential to bring about resentment, because it feels as though it’s being forced on the community. I’m not condemning homosexuals. I’m condemning the authorities for trying to make it [gay marriage] mainstream, and making people feel as though they have to accept it.”
Though Ocean began embracing Rastafari in more recent years, his first introduction to the movement and its principles came in his childhood.
“I remember as a little boy, my grandmother would not allow anybody to cut my hair. I also remember back then in Trinidad, there was a Rasta movement, but like many other things, it was gotten rid of. It then became prominent in Jamaica, but I remember there was a movement in Trinidad and I remember hearing the name Haile Selassie.”
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With such deep-rooted faith – “I read my Bible from cover to cover and when I’ve finished, I read it again; the Bible isn’t something you can just read once and then put away, ” he says – Ocean sounds more like a preacher than a pop star.
Rising to prominence in the ‘80s with hits including Caribbean Queen, Get Outta My Dreams and When The Going Gets Tough – and sporting that unforgettable jheri curl hairdo – Ocean has sold over 30 million albums and is often credited as Britain’s most successful black recording artist.
Still passionate about music, the singer and songwriter releases his new album Here You Are, this week. The 10-track album features songs that have influenced the singer over the years, such as Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry and You Send Me by Otis Redding.
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“Of course, ” he exclaims with a smile. “When you go out on tour, people want to hear the songs they associate you with, so you can’t go on stage being all self-indulgent, singing songs that nobody knows. I love singing the old songs – in fact it makes my life easier! The songs are tried and tested and people enjoy them, so I can go on stage and enjoy myself.”Billy Ocean is 68 years-old. 68. And he has the most ultra cool moves. Smooth. Slick. Effortless. If I could be as nimble as him even at the age I am now (29) I would be first on the dance floor every time, and that’s before I even talk about his voice. Let’s just say it is as good, better even than it ever has been, belting out tunes that were first sung nearly forty years ago with as much soul and heart as they ever had, I really feel it is such privilege to be in his presence with the most content of smiles that he beams towards us and we back.
I revel in the whole sold-out night from start to finish, there’s so much joy in classic songs that seem to be more popular now than when they were when they were first released. Songs such as opener ‘Are You Ready’ and ‘Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)’, get everybody in the party mood, along with Billy querying the crowd’s appetite for the night asking us, “Are you going to dance with me? Are you going to misbehave with me?” The answer is obviously in the affirmative as we all dance and groove as much like ultra cool Billy as we can. Asking one audience member what we are here for, and with their response being “to party”, the set is picked up a notch with hits including ‘Red Light Spells Danger’, which I seriously think is such a forward thinking composition in the time it was recorded, ‘Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car’, ‘When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going’, ‘Suddenly’ and ‘Loverboy’. Plus personal favourite ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ because I really was born in the wrong era, I grew up on Michael Jackson and all amalgamations of that only (The Jacksons, The Jackson 5), essentially I love all things Motown and MJ. So that song for me completely hit the spot.
His
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