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By Kevin Jackson |
"I just came off a tour with the British group BUS-STOP. They did a remake of Kung Fu Fighting in 1999 and it became a major hit for them in Europe and the UK last year. I decided to go back into the studios and to work on some songs that I have," Douglas who resides in Hamburg, Germany told the Observer in an interview earlier this week.
The soul/disco singer is in the island working on tracks for a project, which he plans on shopping to a major overseas label. He worked out with a few local acts on the project including Tenor, from the Taxi recording studio and Dean Fraser. The legendary and world renown Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare were at the helm of the production chair on the project.
"I have been in the studio with Sly and Robbie since November last year. I have always wanted to work with them for a while now. We hooked up through their manager who is a good friend of mine. The songs we did for my upcoming project, are a mixture of soul, reggae, R&B and some UK type of garage music," Douglas disclosed. However, the project is still untitled, but for the time being he has two working titles "Game of Death" or possibly "Return of a Fighter".
Douglas, who was born in Jamaica, was partially raised in California, USA. "I kept going back from California to Jamaica during the late 1950's. My family did not want me to live in the US, so we lived in Europe for a while. I went to college in Europe and studied studio engineering. I am a qualified engineer and I worked in England doing engineering for a few years," he said.
In 1964, Douglas started a group called the Big Stampede. The group released a single called Sell My Soul to the Devil, which was followed by Crazy Feeling which made an appearance on the UK pop chart. Two years later, he formed another group, this time it was the Explosions. The group recorded and released two singles for the Spanish-based Phillips Records.
After his stint with the Explosions, Douglas headed back to England where he teamed up with a band called Gonzales. However, it was a short-lived collaboration, as he later became one of the session singers, which was employed by Pye Records, a subsidiary of 20th Century America.
It was during a recording session that various singers and musicians were assembled to participate on a song called Kung Fu Fighting, which was in tribute to the popularity of martial arts action movies. It was re-recorded with Douglas' voice on lead vocals, and the song became a hit.
"All hell broke loose man. It (the song) popped up at number one on numerous charts across the world. But, eventually I got tired after consistent touring to promote the song and the album which I released at the time," explained Douglas.
"My life changed a whole lot then you know. My life moved up into a new gear. I played at small venues to football stadiums with some of the biggest pop and recording stars of the day. I could work when I wanted to. It was a different kind of life for me. It gave me a different outlook on life, and I learnt how to appreciate money. I even formed my own production company and drafted my own style of contracts. At the same time I learnt a lot from other artistes who were popular around that time. I learnt how to deal with the business side of things as far as my career was concerned as well as how to handle fame. (The late) Curtis Mayfield was a good friend of mine and he advised me a lot then," said Douglas.
Although Douglas only scored one major hit in the US, he managed to score quite a few hits in Europe and the UK.
Dance the Kung Fu reached number 15 in the UK, I Wanna Give You My Everything hit number 20; Love Peace and Happiness and Run Back were Top 30 hits in the UK.
To date he has released three albums, Kung Fu Fighting in 1974; Love, Peace and Happiness in 1979; and Keep Pleasing Me in 1983.
Douglas cited a number of artistes who he said were responsible for the proliferation of Jamaican music in Europe during the 1970s.
"People like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, Freddie McGregor, Burning Spear, and Ken Boothe were all household names at the height and popularity of Jamaican music worldwide back then. And you know, they still are very popular over there. Jimmy Cliff is an icon in France and Marley is much more a king today than he was back then," said Douglas.
"I remember once while on a tour in Europe and after I was announced as a Jamaican artiste on the lineup, Bob Marley came to me and said 'which part of Jamaica you come from?'. I told him I came from the same place that he was from, but he didn't believe me. Later on we joked about it," he added.
Douglas heads back to Europe soon, where he is in negotiations to do some television appearances. "Jackie Chan wanted to know what other songs I had, because he is interested in using one of my other songs in his next action movie. He used Kung Fu Fighting in one of his movies and he liked the response he got from it. I had a song called Game of Death that was to have been used in the Bruce Lee film of the same name back in the 1970s but they took it out and used another song from another artiste. I have since re-done the song," said Douglas.
Douglas runs his own production company SMV Hamburg, a publishing company that deals with films, documentaries and advertisements. It's an investment of which he is proud to have accomplished.
Kung Fu Fighting is currently featured in the US television advertisements for Levi Jeans. Douglas is currently in discussions to have the song used in a movie that is being shot by a film crew from France. Jokingly he said, "the fighter has returned"! (Jamaica Observor)