IT’S no coincidence his surname is Ocean. This man is as cool as the breeze that comes off it.

To say happy-go-lucky would be an understatement of his outlook.

Although at one point he was one of the pop world’s biggest stars – landing three US number ones, selling more than 30 million albums and rubbing shoulders with Hollywood’s elite - the Billy Ocean of today is a different, and ultimately happier, man.

Back on the road for a UK tour, which calls in on Ipswich’s Regent Theatre, on June 4, the 60-year-old singer explains his way of thinking.

“Take each day as it comes,” he says in his deep, yet soothing voice, behind which you somehow know he’s smiling.

“My life is fairly simple and basic, and that’s important to me.”

With no new album to promote, his last being Because I Love You in 2009, it’s a wonder Billy is touring at all.

But this is a musician who, above all, just clearly loves performing.

“The next album will come when I’m ready,” declares Trinidad-born Billy, who moved to East London at the age of ten.

“I don’t have the pressure of a record company and I do what I want.

“I’m not very good at writing songs and stacking them up on shelves. I’m more of a supply and demand writer.

“The important thing is I’m out there touring.”

It’s true that Billy’s got a bit of catching up to do.

Having stepped back from the music world in the early Nineties, the singer only returned in 2007, after a 15-year break.

While glad to be back, he has no desire to emulate his success of the Seventies and Eighties.

Songs like Suddenly, Caribbean Queen and When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going – the theme song for the 1984 Michael Douglas film, the Jewel of the Nile – had earned Billy worldwide fame.

But he says: “I don’t want that hectic lifestyle that I had before. Back then the success started getting bigger than I thought. By the grace of God it just went on and on, but it took me away from my family, so I took a break, which became longer than I planned.

“I don’t regret it at all. Had I stayed in the business, I would have been unhappy and wouldn’t have the taste and enthusiasm I still have.”

During his period of self-imposed exile, Billy continued to perform, albeit low-key work under the mainstream music radar.

“Not a lot of people know that when I was off the road for a while I used to go singing in schools, near my home in Berkshire,” he reveals. “I do what I’m asked within reason, and never put money before the enjoyment of what I do.”

Billy also got involved in Tech Music Schools, the London-based contemporary music school, as a patron.

He regularly attends the school to hold clinics and seminars for students.

“It’s important to get involved with youngsters,” he says.

“I feel sorry for a lot of them, as the human touch is taken away, and now kids sit in front of screens and isolate themselves.

“When I was growing up entertainment was self created and that was one of the reasons for me getting into music.

“There was no instant stardom, like X Factor, but that’s life, and I’m not knocking change.”

Another huge influence on Billy’s life has been the Rastafari religion, which he began practicing in 1989, around the time his mother died.

He says his faith has helped him both personally and professionally.

“It’s more than just growing your hair,” says the dreadlocked musician. “It has helped me in a lot of ways and given me a certain amount of discipline.”

Billy will be joined by an 11-piece band, which includes his eldest daughter, Cherie, 28, on backing vocals, for the Ipswich date.

It’s a show where 96 per cent of the set will be classic Billy Ocean hits.

He says: “People want to hear Red Light Spells Danger and Love Really Hurts Without You – and that’s what I’ll give them.

“I never get bored of those songs.

“I make people happy and they make me happy – it’s as simple as that.”