Daz Sampson
Darren "Daz" Sampson (born 1974 in Stockport, Greater Manchester) is a British dance music producer and vocalist.
Up until 2006, when he represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest, Sampson was best known for his commercial dance music, often reworking older songs. His credits include songs such as "Out of Touch" (as a member of Uniting Nations), "Rhinestone Cowboy" (as a member of Rikki & Daz) and "Kung Fu Fighting" (as a member of Bus Stop).
He has been described as "a reformed semi-criminal, who one day hopes to afford teeth" (he lost some in a fight over a girl)[1].
He strongly resembles the murderer Ian Huntley, and as such, is prone to accusations of indecency involving minors. This is not helped by the fact his song, "Teenage Life" is performed with a dance group of girls dressed in school uniforms.
Many sources in the popular press have observed Daz's close resemblance to infamous child-killer Ian Huntley.
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
On 4 March 2006, Sampson won the BBC show Making Your Mind Up[2] with the song "Teenage Life", which was written and produced with John Matthews (aka Ricardo Autobahn) from the Cuban Boys, who were responsible for the Hampster Dance hit "Cognoscenti Vs. Intelligentsia" in 1999. The song entered the UK Singles Chart on 14 May 2006.
The accompanying dance routine involved young women dressed as schoolgirls, dubbed The Sampsonites, which led to criticism from some sections of the media due to the apparently inappropriate sexuality of his performance of his Eurovision entry. In his defence, he was quoted as saying "the teenage girl dancers were fully clothed [...] there was no sexual innuendo"[3].
As a result of winning Making Your Mind Up, he represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest on 20 May 2006 in Athens, but only 10 of the 39 countries eligible voted for Sampson and his total score was 25 points, placing him 19th out of the 24 acts (winning act Lordi, from Finland, amassed 292 points). Ironically, when asked before the event whether Finland could win, he replied "No way. They're way too scary."[4] Sampson professed to have great confidence that he would win the Eurovision, dismissing previous contestants for not having enough respect for the competition and having poor quality songs. [5]
Despite saying that previous contestants' songs failed simply because they were not good enough, and not because of political voting, following the contest he claimed to have been "the victim of a touch of neighbourly voting" and he has since promised to return to try again for Eurovision victory in 2007.[1]
Although he finished low down the rankings in the Eurovision Song Contest, he enjoyed success in the British charts. "Teenage Life" hit Number 8 in the UK Top 40 reaching the highest chart position of any Eurovision song since Precious peaked at number 6 with "Say It Again" in 1999. Daz Sampson claims that his performance may have raised the popularity of Eurovision in the UK, while others say "The peak audience would appear to be mainly due to audience switchover from the Prince's Trust charity concert broadcast on ITV1" - in any case the 2006 contest attracted half the UK TV audience[2], and led to the highest viewing figures in the UK in Eurovision history.[6]
Career following the Eurovision
Since performing at the Eurovision, Daz Sampson has revealed plans to become a TV presenter, and has claimed that "I have already been approached to appear on a celebrity reality show but I can't really say much about it - other than the fact it is set in Australia."[7] This could be seen as an allusion to the popular ITV show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.
He has also claimed that he will be performing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, but probably not for the United Kingdom. He claimed he was approached following the 2006 contest and asked to perform for another country, believed to be Eastern European.[8]
Singles
| Year | Song | UK Singles Chart | UK Download Chart | France Singles Chart | Germany Singles Chart | Australia ARIA Chart | Holland Singles Chart | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "Teenage Life" | #8 | #11 | #15 | #16 | #21 | #30 |
References
- ^ "Death metal, Dana?". The Observer. 2006-05-07. Retrieved 2006-05-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Dance track wins Eurovision vote". BBC News. 2006-03-04. Retrieved 2006-05-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Underdog Daz enjoying the limelight". Manchester Evening News. 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2006-05-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "60 Seconds Daz Sampson". Metro.co.uk. 2006-19-05. Retrieved 2006-22-05.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ "Daz takes on Eurovision Mission". BBC.co.uk. 2006-16-05. Retrieved 2006-22-05.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ "Daz swap: Can Eu believe it!". Manchester Evening News. 2006-30-05. Retrieved 2006-04-06.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Daz swap: Can Eu believe it!". Manchester Evening News. 2006-30-05. Retrieved 2006-04-06.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "United Kingdom: Daz a candidate for an eastern European country in 2007?". oikotimes.com. 2006-31-05. Retrieved 2006-04-06.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)