Golden oldie is still making waves

He took a 17-year break from music, now Billy Ocean is enjoying being back on the road. He talks fame, family and Boyzone with Ed Power

BILLY OCEAN’S eyes light up at the memory. “What a coup it was — to have the biggest movie stars in the world fly over and star in your video,” says the veteran soul singer “Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito… they didn’t come any more important than that.”

In 1985, the three A-listers jetted to Britain to appear in the promo to Ocean’s When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going. For pampered celebs, it must have been a surreal experience. Rather than a glamorous sound stage, the video was shot in an abandoned music venue in inner London. The temperature frequently hovered around zero.