British pop singer Craig Douglas, who once outsold Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra and became known as “The Singing Milkman,” has died at the age of 85.
Douglas, best remembered for his 1959 No. 1 hit Only Sixteen, died peacefully following a short illness, according to his family.
“It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Craig peacefully passed away this afternoon,” a family spokesperson said. “He will be greatly missed by myself, his family, and his close friends. Rest in peace, Craig.”
His family has asked for privacy.
Born Terence Perkins on Aug. 13, 1941, on England’s Isle of Wight, Douglas rose to fame during the early days of rock and pop music.
He was given the stage name Craig Douglas by his manager because, as Douglas later joked, there were already plenty of performers named Terry.
His nickname, “The Singing Milkman,” came from a summer job he held as a teenager.
Douglas once recalled that his music career began almost by accident after his mother secretly entered him into a local singing competition.
He said he came home one day to find a letter about the contest and initially had no idea what it was about.
Douglas went on to win the competition and caught the attention of manager Bunny Lewis, who believed he had discovered “another Perry Como.”
His big break came in 1959 with Only Sixteen, written by Sam Cooke.
Douglas recorded the song at Abbey Road Studios, and it shot to No. 1 on the British charts.
He followed that success with several more hits, including Pretty Blue Eyes, Time and Our Favourite Melodies, all of which reached the Top 10 in the U.K.
At the height of his fame, Douglas was reportedly outselling major stars including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
He was also named Best New Singer by the British music publication NME in 1959.
Douglas released his self-titled debut album the following year and continued recording music for decades.
In 1961, he competed in the Eurovision Song Contest with A Girl Next Door, finishing seventh.
A year later, he appeared in the musical movie It’s Trad, Dad!, alongside performers including Chubby Checker and Helen Shapiro.
Douglas also topped the bill at the Beatles’ first major stage show in 1962, giving him a unique connection to one of the biggest bands in music history.
As his chart career slowed, Douglas continued performing in nightclubs, on cruise ships and at venues across Britain.
He stayed active in music for years and released his final studio album, The Craig Douglas Project, in 2011.
Douglas never married and had no children, though he often spoke fondly about his nieces.
He once said he would have liked to have had children but worried he would have missed them too much while traveling for work.
Douglas leaves behind a career that stretched more than five decades and a place in pop music history as one of Britain’s biggest young stars of the pre-Beatles era.