He may be in his late-fifties and a sporting a whole heap of grey hair but Billy Ocean is still as popular as ever.

Love Really Hurts Without You, When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going and Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car are just a few of his blockbusters that can be found in any self-respecting DJs record bag on a regular basis.

The 58-year-old is now back touring for the first time in 15 years ahead of the release of his new album, Because I Love You, in the Spring and the dreadlocked 70s and 80s star admits he is just out to enjoy himself.

“The music makes me happy and makes people happy,” he said.

“I’m trying just to have fun out of it now, you miss all of that when you are young because you are a little bit egotistical.

“What is important now is going out and doing the best show for the people, with the people.”

Ocean is the latest in a long line of former stars to be performing again, something he puts down to a lack of talent coming through.

“There was no X-Factor in my day,” he said, “and I think part of the reason why people like myself and many other older acts are back on the scene is because the new ones couldn’t really cut it.

“They never went through an apprenticeship. In my day you had to do all the technical jobs in the industry first, I remember a period where I was in engineering.”

Though Ocean had a number of jobs before Love Really Hurts Without You catapulted him to stardom in 1976, music was always his first love.

“A tailor was my profession, “ he said, ”that’s the one thing I was trained for.

“I was a mechanic too but all that was between making music.

“In those days there were lots of jobs around, I used to get sacked from one and the next day walk into the another one. “Sometimes I was meant to be going into work after a gig but I was never that bothered if I lost the job.”

Like many of his contemporaries, Ocean has seen his hits reworked and covered by new artists, but he insists he never has a bad word to say about any of their efforts.

“I don’t criticise it as in a way it’s a form of recognition,” he said.

“For them to have done it means I have done well and to me whether it’s a good record or a bad record it’s the recognition - if I had to cover somebody’s song I would cover what I consider to be good.”

Billy Ocean, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon, October 2, 8pm, £25. Call 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk.