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| The Award Winning Billy Ocean to Headline 2010 Waterloo Ball |
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Billy Ocean is the biggest black recording star Britain has ever produced, one who has sold over 30 million records in his lifetime.
He has collected a pile of Gold and Platinum records across the world and hit the number one spot worldwide on pop charts including the USA, Australia, Germany, Holland, and the UK. Billy has achieved extraordinary success as both an artist and a songwriter
Born in Trinidad, Billy settled in London’s East End when just seven years old. The calypso crazy kid soon got turned on to soul singers like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, as well as pop groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, leading him to spend much of his study time in the music room.
Billy got his first break when he signed to GTO records, for whom his second single was the Motown-ish Love Really Hurts Without You, which reached No. 2 in the UK charts and No. 12 in the US.
Two top twenty singles followed; Love on Delivery and Stop Me, then Red Light Spells Danger became a smash in both the UK and the US.
Billy changed record labels and his move to Jive Records provided instant success, with the million selling American number one single Caribbean Queen (for which Billy won a Grammy for best R&B Vocal), followed by Loverboy, and Suddenly, which became the first of Billy’s killer ballads. The Album from which these singles came from spent a year in the US Charts selling double platinum (triple in Canada). Billy also performed on the American half of Live Aid, making 1985 a truly incredible year for him.
1986 wasn’t bad either, opening with When the Going gets Tough (the tough gets going), the theme song to the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner/Danny Devito movie Jewel of the Nile. Billy then launched the Love Zone album, which went straight to No. 2 in the UK charts, staying in the top 40 for six months. In the US, there was a No. 1 single with There’ll be Sad Songs (to make you cry).
More Hits were to follow with the now classic Get Outta my Dreams; Get into my Car, giving Billy yet another US No. 1 hit.
More hits followed as Billy also proved himself to be one of the most hardworking artists on the live stage, touring the world to ever growing enthusiastic audiences.
After huge worldwide success and with a young family at home, Billy decided to take a break to spend some well earned time with them. In 2007, with the kids all grown up, Billy went back out to perform his hits again, this time with his daughter Cherie on backing vocals, with live dates in the UK and Europe, USA, Canada, and the Caribbean. The tour was a great success and culminated in him getting the bug once more for writing and recording. 2008 saw Billy back in the studio for the first time in 15 years, recording his brand new album ‘Because I Love You.’
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| Legendary Soul Queen Mica Paris Parts to Perform at Waterloo Ball |
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The UK’s Soul Queen is back to her first passion: music. 2009 sees the British star releasing her first original studio album in ten years. She is also embarking on a nationwide tour meeting fans old and new and reminding her millions of TV fans what first put her in the public eye twenty- two years ago.
Mica’s new album, entitled ‘Born Again’. The album is released May 25th and has been produced by the legendary ‘hit- maker’, Brian Rawling. Rawling, whose recent single ‘Broken Strings’ for James Morrison and Nelly Furtado was number one worldwide. The aforementioned James Morrison wrote Mica’s first single off the album, out May 18th, ‘Baby Come Back Now’ – an up- tempo retro tune, that Morrison penned especially for Mica’s soaring vocals.
Mica Paris's roots are in soul and gospel music. She grew up singing in her grandparents' church and by her mid teens was making regular appearances with 'The Spirit of Watts' gospel choir. She was soon noticed as a distinctive voice and at seventeen got her first break as a backing vocalist with the UK chart band 'Hollywood Beyond'.
The range, power, and sheer soulfulness of her singing made a major impact on the UK scene and in the following year, 1988, she released her debut, platinum-selling album, So Good, from which she had her first top ten hit with 'You Are My One Temptation'.
In 1991, Mica's second album, Contribution, was released. This extended Mica's soul and gospel influences to bring in hip-hop and house music and included a track written especially for Mica by Prince, which she recorded at his Paisley Park studios.
Her third album, Whisper a Prayer (1993), marked another departure for Mica, fusing soul, jazz and blues with lush string arrangements. Garnering further top twenty singles ‘ Never Felt Like This Before and ‘ Wanna Hold On To You’. Mica then decided to take a break from recording and turned to the stage, where she starred in two acclaimed West End shows, 'Mama I Want to Sing' and 'Sweet Lorraine'.
In 1997 she returned to the studio to record and produce her fourth album, Black Angel, which produced two more top twenty singles ‘Stay’ and ‘Carefree’ and in 2001, another collaboration, this time with Dave Gilmore and Jools Holland on Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic track, 'I Put A Spell On You', once again topped the charts.
In 2002 Mica extended her talents into broadcasting. She presented two shows for television: a documentary tracing the influence of gospel on American popular music, 'The Gospel of Gospel', for Lion Television and Channel 4, which featured interviews with legendary artists Ray Charles, BB King, Al Green, Issac Hayes and Chaka Khan; and Channel 4's 'Gospel Singer of the Year' competition. She also began hosting her own radio show, 'Soul Solutions', on BBC Radio 2, the most successful soul and R&B show in the UK.
Early 2003 she played to a sell-out crowd at London's Jazz Café, and broadcast a two-part show, 'Purple Reign: The Prince Story', on BBC Radio 2 and featured interviews with George Clinton, Chaka Khan and Jimmy Jam. Autumn of 2003 saw Mica being presented with the Gold Badge Award by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters for her special contribution to the British entertainment industry.
In 2004 Mica was in the top 10 list of the 100 Great Black Britons which was compiled to celebrate the achievements and contributions made by the British Black community over the centuries.
In October of 2004 Mica toured around the UK as the main character in the theater production, The Vagina Monologues.
Mica began a sell- out residency at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club and began what would be two seasons of the BBC 1 show ‘What Not To Wear’. Her time on the show created record- breaking ratings. Other television presenting has followed with Mica being and expert judge on Gok Wan’s ‘Miss Naked Beauty 2008’ for Channel 4 and ITV’s ‘CelebAir’
While presenting ‘What Not To Wear’, Mica encountered many woman who’s stories touched her. She began to examine her own life and choices and was compelled to tell her story in a bid to inspire confidence and self- esteem to those woman and others that find life overwhelming at times. Thus her book ‘Beautiful Within’ was born. Published by Simon and Schuster the book was an instant hit. The paperback is being released August 2008.
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