Chart-topping British musician Craig Douglas has died at the age of 85.
Best known as ‘The Singing Milkman,’ one of Douglas’s biggest singles was Only Sixteen, which he recorded in 1959 at Abbey Road Studios.
After reaching number one with the song, he went on to score several more hits in the 1950s and ’60s – including Pretty Blue Eyes (1959), Time (1960), and Our Favourite Melodies (1960), all of which landed in the Top 10 UK charts.
At his prime, Douglas managed to outsell peers Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.
A spokesperson for Douglas’s family told the press that he died peacefully after a short illness, confirming: ‘It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Craig peacefully passed away this afternoon. He will be greatly missed by myself, his family, and his close friends. Rest in peace, Craig.’
His family has asked for privacy at this time.
Douglas was born in Newport on the Isle of Wight on August 13, 1941.
Born Terence Perkins, he was given the name Craig Douglas by his manager – which he said was due to an abundance of ‘Terrys’ at the time, but not so many people named Craig.
He took the name The Singing Milkman for a job he’d taken during the summer holidays as a teenager.
‘One day I came home, and my mother said there is a letter for you. It was the first letter I’d ever received in my life. It was from the manager of the Medina Theatre asking me about the upcoming singing competition I’d apparently entered,’ he told The Beat Magazine in 2021.
‘When I asked my mother what it was all about, she admitted that she’d put my name down for the competition.’
Winning £10 ‘or something,’ in the competition, he first met manager Bunny Lewis, who signed the singer on in the belief that they had ‘another Perry Como’ on their hands.
Douglas was voted Best New Singer by NME in 1959, a year before the release of his self-titled first studio album.
During his career, he went on to release five subsequent studio albums, including Looking Back: Greatest Hits (2005) and The Golden Anniversary Album (2008).
In 1961, Douglas entered the Eurovision Song Contest with A Girl Next Door, which finished in 7th place behind the winning country, Luxembourg.
A year later, he starred in the film It’s Trad, Dad! directed by Richard Lester and featured other rock-and-roll singers of the time, including Chubby Checker and Helen Shapiro.
Douglas also topped the bill at the Beatles’ first major stage show in 1962.
In the decades that followed, Douglas performed at nightclubs and cruise ships while still touring venues across the UK.
In 2011, he released his final studio album, titled The Craig Douglas Project.
Craig never married and had no children, although he did speak fondly of his nieces in a 2020 interview with BBC Sounds.
‘Well, I didn’t get married to start with, which was a shame,’ he told The Beat Magazine.
‘I would have liked to have had a couple of children, but if I had, I’d miss them like mad while I was away.’