Craig Douglas, the singer who achieved a UK No 1 with his cover of Only Sixteen in 1959, has died at the age of 85. Douglas, born Terence Perkins on 12 August 1941 in Newport, Isle of Wight, was one of three sets of twins among his parents' nine children. His death was confirmed on 4 September 2026.
Rise to fame with Top Rank Records
In January 1959, the Rank Organisation, having dominated British cinema for a quarter of a century but in terminal decline as a film-maker, launched the Top Rank record label to diversify. Douglas, then 17 and billed as the Isle of Wight's 'singing milkman', was among its early signings. He had already recorded two unsuccessful singles for Decca.
Eighteen months later, Top Rank had run up losses of £800,000 and was sold to EMI. The label had been provided with a diet of has-beens, middle-of-the-roaders, no-hopers, failed US imports and novelties. Douglas went with the deal as the teenage sensation of the label and Top Rank's sole British success story.
Chart success and the 'Only Sixteen' phenomenon
Douglas had four British Top 20 hits by then. While rock'n'roll hinted at mean streets and disreputability, his ballad style belonged to a world of repressive yet understanding grown-ups and pining, respectful teens. His chirpy, fresh-faced, short-haired and cardiganed image caught the mood of Macmillan-era Britain with its new towns and new affluence.
His first Top Rank release, a cover of the Fleetwoods' Come Softly to Me in April 1959, flopped. His version of Dion and the Belmonts' Teenager in Love lost out domestically to Marty Wilde but still reached the Top 20. Then came his breakthrough: when Sam Cooke had a US hit with Only Sixteen, Douglas's cover spent four weeks at No 1 in the British charts in July 1959, becoming the calling card of his career.
Career beyond Top Rank
Douglas was educated at the local school and did a holiday milk round that led to his 'singing milkman' label. He won a talent contest with Pat Boone's Love Letters in the Sand and got a slot on a Newport variety show, where he was spotted by the wife of Bunny Lewis, an agent-cum-songwriter who had co-written the 3.5m-selling 1954 hit Cara Mia with Mantovani.
Lewis provided him with singing lessons, a new name and an entry into Tin Pan Alley. Six appearances on the BBC's Six-Five Special in autumn 1958 were followed by two Decca singles. Only Sixteen was his sole No 1, but Pretty Blue Eyes and The Heart of a Teenage Girl (both 1960) and A Hundred Pounds of Clay and Time (both 1961) all made the top 10. When My Little Girl Is Smiling (March 1962) was his last Top Rank success, and after Our Favourite Melodies in June 1962 he returned to Decca.
Later years and legacy
In 1962, Douglas featured in two films: The Painted Smile, a British crime B-movie, and It's Trad, Dad! with Helen Shapiro, which encapsulates pre-Beatles British pop culture. That October, his cover of Don Gibson's Oh Lonesome Me peaked at No 15, but the Beatles' Love Me Do also became a minor hit that month. A time had passed for performers like Douglas, and there would be no more top 20 records.
Douglas continued working into the 21st century in stage shows, pantomimes and television. In 2009, osteoporosis meant he began using a wheelchair, but he did not stop performing. In 2013 he released a new album, The Craig Douglas Project. His version of Teenager in Love featured in Cold Lazarus (1996), Dennis Potter's last television drama. The Top Rank label vanished soon after his departure.
