In January 1959, the Rank Organisation, having dominated British cinema for a quarter of a century, but in terminal decline as a film-maker and seeking to diversify, launched the Top Rank record label. Among its early signings was Craig Douglas, who has died aged 85.
Douglas, a 17-year-old billed as the Isle of Wight’s “singing milkman”, already had two unsuccessful Decca singles behind him. Eighteen months later, the record company, having been provided with a diet of has-beens, middle-of-the roaders, no-hopers, failed US imports and novelties, had run up losses of £800,000, and was sold on to EMI. With the deal went Douglas, the teenage sensation of the label and Top Rank’s sole British success story.
