Billy Ocean cruises into CFCC’s Wilson Center in October

The Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College is excited to announce that Grammy Award-winning recording artist Billy Ocean will be at the Center on October 9, 2023, at 7:30 p.m as part of his newly announced American tour. Billy Ocean is best known for a string of pop and soul anthems in the ’70s and ’80s, he is Britain’s most commercially successful Black artist, and has sold more than 30 million records worldwide.

Billy Ocean’s first hit was the 1976 Motown-esque single “Love Really Hurts Without You.”  In the following year came another UK chart topper, “Red Light Spells Danger.”  There were more hits in the ’80s, including three US number ones: “Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run),” “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry),” and “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car.” He is probably best known for “When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going,” which was a hit for Billy Ocean in 1986 and for Boyzone 13 years later.

Born in Trinidad, Billy Ocean settled in London’s East End when he was seven years old. The calypso-crazy kid soon got turned on to soul singers like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, as well as to pop groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Billy Ocean got his first big break when he signed with GTO records, and went on to achieve extraordinary success as both an artist and a songwriter.

Billy Ocean has proven himself to be one of the most hardworking artists on the live stage, and has toured the world to ever-growing enthusiastic audiences. After touring extensively through the UK to sold out shows, Billy Ocean is back in America to perform his hits. Get ready to sing along… Tickets will be available online to Wilson Center Members beginning at 10 a.m. on May 03, 2023, with tickets going on sale online to the general public on Friday, May 05, 2023, at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at WilsonCenterTickets.com or by contacting the Ticket Central box office. Ticket Central is open for telephone and in-person sales from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday only. Ticket Central may be reached by telephone at 910.362.7999; questions may also be directed to [email protected].