Songoftheday 10/25/13 - She dashed by me in painted on jeans and all heads turned 'cause she was the dream...

Billy Ocean - "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)"
from the album Suddenly (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15 weeks

Today's Song of the Day is by the R&B/pop singer/songwriter born Leslie Charles in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, but redubbed Billy Ocean when he changed from a standards singer to a pop performer in Britain in the 70s. Releasing his self-titled debut album in 1976, Billy scored a #2 hit in the UK and his first top-40 single in American with "Love Really Hurts Without You". A year later, he repeated the feat in England with "Red Light Spells Danger", but in America, pop radio had already passed, and it seemed like Ocean would simply be a mid-level one-hit-wonder. He even went where pop stars' careers go to die, the dance chart, as he had his first club hit in 1981 with the double-sided single "Stay The Night"/"Night (Feel Like Getting Down)", reaching #4.

Things changed completely when Billy switched labels to Jive Records in the early 80s. His first album with the new imprint, Suddenly, was released in 1984. The first single with an infectious slice of post-disco written by the singer with his producer Keith Diamond. "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)", which was alternately recorded as "European Queen" and "African Queen", connected with music fans around the world, and brought Ocean back to American shores in a big way. Maybe it was the fact that it basically was a rewrite of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"...

"Caribbean Queen" went all the way to #1 on the US pop chart in November of 1984. It also did the same on the American dance and R&B charts, as well as making it up to #7 on the adult-contemporary (easy-listening) format. The record also topped the singles lists in Canada and New Zealand, while stopping just short in Australia and maxing out at #6 in the UK. It would start a streak of nine consecutive top-40 hits for the singer, making him a big player on the pop scene again. And for someone rockin' a sweater like Billy, that's always a good thing.

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Here's the alternate "European Queen", which went to #2 in Germany and #3 in neighboring Switzerland..