the song kung fu fighting came out in 1974.
the song kung fu fighting came out in 1974.
when did the song kung fu fighting come out?
1974
in 1971, he wrote the title track for the jack wild album "everything's coming up roses", which was released as a single backed with "bring yourself back to me", written by don gould and lynsey de paul. the single earned positive reviews, with "billboard" awarding it special merit spotlight status and it reached number 107 on the "billboard" bubbling under chart. in 1972, biddu scored music for the uk spy thriller "embassy". around this time, he also started working with uk-based jamaican-born musician carl douglas on a 45 (rpm record) single "i want to give you my everything". while this song was intended for the a side, they cut a song for the b side, "kung fu fighting", in only 10 minutes. later, at the insistence of a & r at pye records, "kung fu fighting" was put on the a-side. soon after release in 1974, "kung fu fighting" became a worldwide hit, topping charts around the world, ultimately selling eleven million copies worldwide. in 1974, it received a gold certification from the riaa, and won the grammy award for best selling single. shortly after, biddu also produced carl douglas' debut album "kung fu fighting and other great love songs", which produced another major hit, "dance the kung fu". he soon established himself as one of the key figures in britain's soul and disco scenes during the 1970s, working with a variety of british soul and disco artists, including tina charles, the outriders, and jimmy james.
biddu
in mid 1981 kung fu and kato kung lee left empresa mexicana de lucha libre (emll) and joined the rival promotion universal wrestling association (uwa). in the uwa kung fu and kato began teaming with black man, forming a trio called "los tres fantásticos" ("the fantastic three") that would soon become the top "tecnico" (face or "good guy") trio of the uwa. "los tres fantásticos" became the first ever uwa world trios championship on march 18, 1984 when they defeated solar, super astro and ultraman in the finals of a tournament to crown the first champions, during a time period where the uwa shows in "el toreo" were the biggest drawing shows in mexico. kung fu, kato and black man lost the uwa trios title at some point in 1984. in 1984/85 emll and the uwa ran a series of joint shows, sharing wrestlers between the two promotions, including "los tres fantásticos". when the cooperation ended kung fu decided to stay with emll, black man remained with the uwa and kato kung lee began wrestling on the independent circuit, ending "los tres fantásticos". several attempts to recreated the "fantásticos" have been made since then, but none had the popularity of success of the original trio. on october 17, 1986 kung fu won the nwa world middleweight championship from gran cochisse, winning one of the top championships in all of mexico. kung fu held the title for approximately 10 months before losing the title to el dandy on july 17, 1987. kung fu regained the title on october 6, 1987 and held it until july 10, 1988 where he lost it to atlantis. by the time kung fu lost the nwa title kato kung lee had returned to emll, he had also turned "rudo" (heel or "bad guy") and lost his mask in a match against el hijo del santo. kung fu and kato kung lee started a storyline feud, old partners who are now enemies. the feud between the two saw kung fu win two "luchas de apuestas" in 1988, both times causing kato kung lee to be shaved bald after the match. in 1990 kung fu worked a feud with atlantis, a feud that let to kung fu being unmasked on october 26, 1990 as he lost a "luchas de apuestas" match. after losing his mask kung fu seemed to have lost a step or two in the ring, losing part of appeal when he lost the mask, something which is not uncommon in lucha libre. after his mask loss kung fu turned "rudo", using his nunchuks to attack other wrestlers. after an initial push as a "rudo" kung fu started to sink in the ranks, being used more and more to help young wrestlers gain experience and make them look good. kung fu remained with emll (by then renamed consejo mundial de lucha libre (cmll)) until 1994, where he began working on the independent circuit. around the same time cuesta introduced "kung fu, jr." to the wrestling world, unlike some family relationships in lucha libre that are fictional kung fu, jr. is actually the son of raymundo cuesta. after touring with kung fu, jr. for a while cuesta went into semi-retirement and began working for the mexican government instead. he made occasional appearances for years, never fully retiring from wrestling.
kung fu (wrestler)