Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) – Billy Ocean | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#1 for 2 weeks) & R&B (#1 for 4 weeks); 1984

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

European Queen. African Queen. Caribbean Queen. All are titles of the same song with different locales plugged in. Of these, European Queen was the original, composed by Billy Ocean and producer Keith Diamond at Ocean’s London home studio.

Both Billy and Keith hailed from Trinidad so the pairing was a natural fit. Hopes were riding high on European Queen when it began its climb up the British chart, yet, it stopped at #82, an off-the-radar showing in the smaller English record market.

For the U.S., a change to Caribbean Queen was suggested and the appropriate word change was punched in at the studio. This incarnation performed superbly, hanging around the Hot 100 for six months.

Caribbean Queen‘s hot streak snagged Billy a 1984 Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Incidentally, if you’re a 45 collector, flip over Billy’s 1985 single release, Mystery Lady, to get an earful of African Queen.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

  • Keith Diamond

Lyrics Written by:

  • Billy Ocean
  • Keith Diamond

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Ed Osborne

Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).