Early Life and Career
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Douglas was based in the United Kingdom and his song "Kung Fu Fighting" hit number one in both the U.K. Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. It was awarded gold status by the RIAA on 27 November 1974, and won a Grammy Award for Best Selling Single in that year's event. It eventually went on to sell 11 million records worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.
The song, which is an homage to martial arts films, has overshadowed the rest of Douglas' career, resulting in his appearance on cover versions of the song. He did release two other singles ("Blue Eyed Soul" and "Dance the Kung Fu", which was sampled by DJ Premier on his 2007 remix of Nike's 25th Air Force One anniversary single "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)", featuring Kanye West, Nas, KRS-One and Rakim) but he has ultimately become known in recording history as an example of a one hit wonder.
He was at one time managed by Eric Woolfson, later the primary songwriter behind The Alan Parsons Project.
In 1998, a re-recording of "Kung Fu Fighting", billed as 'Bus Stop featuring Carl Douglas', reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart.
He is represented by music publisher Schacht Musikverlage (SMV) in Hamburg, Germany.
Read more about this topic: Carl Douglas
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“All of Western tradition, from the late bloom of the British Empire right through the early doom of Vietnam, dictates that you do something spectacular and irreversible whenever you find yourself in or whenever you impose yourself upon a wholly unfamiliar situation belonging to somebody else. Frequently it’s your soul or your honor or your manhood, or democracy itself, at stake.”
—June Jordan (b. 1939)
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched seabeams glitter in the dark near the Tennhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Time to die.”
—David Webb Peoples, U.S. screenwriter, and Ridley Scott. Roy Batty, Blade Runner, final words before dying—as an android he had a built-in life span that expired (1982)
“Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.”
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)