Editing Billy Ocean (section)

== Early life and stardom ==
Ocean was born on 21 January 1950 in [[Fyzabad]], Trinidad and Tobago, to Hainsley Charles, a Grenadian musician,<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=first|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1849}}</ref><ref name="AMG">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/billy-ocean-mn0000089058/biography|title=Billy Ocean – Biography|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=19 September 2014}}</ref> and his wife Violet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.northwales.co.uk/latest-news/billy-ocean/|title=Billy Ocean|website=Northwales.co.uk|access-date=2 November 2014}}</ref> He moved to [[Romford]], [[Essex]], England, when he was 10 years old, shortly before Trinidad and Tobago became independent in 1962. He was exposed to music at an early age. During his teenage years, he sang regularly in a London nightclub<ref name="AMG"/> while also working as a tailor in London's [[Savile Row]].

He was discovered by his first manager, John Morphew, who recorded a [[A-side and B-side#Double A-side|double A-side]] single at [[Pye Records|Pye Studios]] in London with a full orchestra. However, the ballad-singing style of Ocean was going out of fashion, and Morphew was unable to get any major label to release it. It remains unreleased. Ocean's father — who had countersigned the management contract as Ocean was underage — asked Morphew to release him from the recording contract, which he did without penalty. In 1969, he joined a local band, the Shades of Midnight, playing in the Shoreditch area of London.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} He recorded a [[David Myers (songwriter)|David Myers]] and [[John Worsley (songwriter)|John Worsley]] composition, "Nashville Rain",<ref>''Carolina Beach Music Encyclopedia'', By Rick Simmons - [https://books.google.com/books?id=nE1nDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 Page 204 Billy Ocean]</ref><ref>Billy Ocean website - [http://www.billyocean.co.uk/biography/ BIOGRAPHY]</ref> his first single, backed with "Sun in the Morning", in 1971 for [[Spark (UK record label)|Spark Records]] under the name Les Charles, and for two years fronted a studio band called Scorched Earth, with whom he released "On The Run" backed with "Super Woman, Super Lover" in 1974.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

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In an interview with [[Myf Warhurst]] on [[ABC Radio Melbourne]], Ocean stated that the story of his stage name being taken from the local Ocean Estate, Stepney in London's [[East End of London|East End]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/338/caribbean_king/|title=Billy Ocean: Caribbean King|author=Pete Lewis|work=Blues & Soul|access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref> where he was living at the time, was incorrect. According to the interview, the name was derived from a local football team that was in his home town in Trinidad and Tobago, who called themselves "Oceans 11".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/myf-warhurst/myf-warhurst/11188218|title=Billy Ocean, History of Australian toys, breaking up, a 9/11 comedy|date=7 June 2019|website=ABC Radio|language=en-AU|access-date=13 June 2019}}</ref>