Love Zone – Billy Ocean | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#10) & R&B (#11); 1986
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
As hot as Billy Ocean was in 1985, he burned like a house on fire in 1986. He led off the year with When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going; written by Wayne Brathwaite, Barry J. Eastman, Mutt Lange, and Billy.
Recorded for the movie Jewel Of The Nile, it kept Billy’s music in the marketplace while he recorded the Love Zone album. Producers Brathwaite and Eastmond wrote most of Love Zone in London, then bounced back and forth between there and New York to cut the tracks.
The leadoff single from the Love Zone sessions – There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry) – returned Billy to the top of the R&B and pop charts. The second release was built on a baseline supplied by Brathwaite.
With Eastmond assisting on the drum machine, Billy began playing with words; zeroing in on “zone.” When Wayne tossed in “love,” Billy caught the groove and came up with a melody on the spot. After Love Zone also went to #1, Billy closed out the year with the R&B #10, Love Is Forever.
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:
- Barry Eastmond
- Wayne Brathwaite
Lyrics Written by:
- Billy Ocean
- Barry Eastmond
- Wayne Brathwaite
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).