Carol Douglas
There's more to Carol Douglas than what meets the eye. On the surface she seems like your typical one-hit wonder disco star, but dig deeper and you'll find a beautiful diva with show business in her blood. Douglas was born April 4, 1948, in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Minnie Newsome, sang in some of the many jazz clubs in the Apollo theater area -- she was the inspiration for Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" -- and the late, great R&B singer Sam Cooke was a cousin. "Doctor's Orders" remains Douglas' biggest hit to date: it charted at number 11 pop in February 1975 and established her as a beautiful ambassador of disco.
Douglas' show business career began in her teens via TV commercials and small film and TV roles. She appeared in the off-Broadway play Moon on a Rainbow with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson. In the early '70s, she sang with the regrouped Chantels ("Maybe") before beginning a solo career in 1974. Her big hit came almost immediately -- "Doctor's Orders" had been a U.K. hit for Sunny Leslie. Midland International Records plucked it from her debut album; the song came courtesy of songwriters Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, and Geoff Stephens. Producer Ed O'Loughin worked with Douglas on her first four albums.
Unfortunately, the follow-ups didn't fare as well. "A Hurricane Is Coming Tonight" ran out of gas at number 81 pop in 1975. Burnin', which many consider her best record, did well in clubs and discos but didn't chart as well as Hurricane; critically acclaimed, the latter was nominated for a Grammy in 1978. She sang "You Make Me Feel the Music" for the motion picture Haunted in 1977. Douglas doesn't appear in Saturday Night Fever but her name does: it's displayed on the marquee outside the famous disco 2001 Odyssey. Douglas spent the rest of the '70s and '80s re-recording popular songs like "Dancing Queen," "Night Fever," and "My Simple Heart." She also recorded some good songs ("Who, What, When, Where, Why" and "I Got the Answer") that went unnoticed by all but die-hard fans. In the early '80s, "You're Not So Hot" received a few spins but failed to chart.
Douglas continued to record and perform. She sang several of her hits at the Annual Martin Luther King Summer Concert Series in Brooklyn in the summer of 1997; she sang at Beatstock '97; and in January 1998, she performed at the Saturday Night Fever 20th anniversary reunion. In 2017, her entire solo catalog was re-released by Essential Music.
© Andrew Hamilton /TiVo
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Doctor's Orders
International Pop - Released by Red Bus Music on Feb 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Midnight Love Affair (Digitally Remastered)
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Jan 1, 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Doctor's Orders - All Time Greatest Hits
Disco - Released by Nifty Music, Inc. on Jan 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Her Greatest Hits (Deluxe Edition)
Funk - Released by HHO on Oct 31, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Doctor's Orders
Electronic - Released by Essential Media Group on Feb 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Carol Douglas Album (Digitally Remastered)
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Aug 24, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Full Bloom (Expanded Edition) [Digitally Remastered]
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Oct 21, 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hits Anthology: Carol Douglas (Digitally Remastered)
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Nov 9, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Disco Diva Vol. 1
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Sep 5, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Carol Douglas Album (Expanded Edition) [Digitally Remastered]
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Oct 21, 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Burnin' (Expanded Edition) [Digitally Remastered]
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Oct 21, 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Carol Douglas (Digitally Remastered)
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Mar 5, 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Come into My Life (Expanded Edition) [Digitally Remastered]
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Oct 21, 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Midnight Love Affair (Expanded Edition) [Digitally Remastered]
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Oct 21, 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Midnight Love Affair
Soul - Released by Westmill on Jul 20, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Doctor's Orders / Baby, Don't Let This Good Love Die (Digital 45) (7" Version)
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Oct 21, 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Come Into My Life (Digitally Remastered)
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Jan 1, 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Burnin' (Digitally Remastered)
Disco - Released by Essential Media Group on Aug 31, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Midnight Love Affair
Soul - Released by Good Time Records on Jan 1, 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Disco Queen: Greatest Hits
Soul - Released by CLASSIC WORLD ENTERTAINMENT on Feb 8, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo