Teenage Life

"Teenage Life"
Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry
Country	United Kingdom
Artist(s)	Daz Sampson
Language	English
Composer(s)	John Matthews, Daz Sampson
Lyricist(s)	John Matthews, Daz Sampson
Finals performance
Final result	19th
Final points	25
Appearance chronology
◄ "Touch My Fire" (2005)
"Flying the Flag (For You)" (2007) ►

"Teenage Life" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, which was sung by Daz Sampson in English.

On 4 March 2006, Sampson had won the BBC show Making Your Mind Up^[1] 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 reaching the Top 10 the next week and peaking at number 8.

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 eligible countries 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).

The backing vocalists on "Teenage Life" were five young females, Emily Reed, Holy, Leeanne, Ashlee and Gabriella singing as well as dancing, depicted as school girls in a school-themed song and lyrics. Although four of the five girls were just amateurs applying for the song, the fifth member, Emily Reed had taken part in A Song For Europe, the selection process for representing UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003. She had been one of four finalists, singing "Help Me". She had finished second to Jemini, the winners with the song "Cry Baby". Reed got the fifth position as a replacement vocalist when it was decided one of the original qualifying amateur girls, Jessica, could not take part for various considerations, including her age.

In the BBC's 2013 documentary 'How to Win Eurovision', Daz admitted 'Rap may not be the best of ideas and maybe Europe was not ready for Daz Sampson'.

Tracklist

1. "Teenage Life" (Radio Edit) (3:02)
2. "Teenage Life" (Uniting Nations Remix) (6:48)
3. "Teenage Life" (JJ Mason Remix) (5:40)
4. "Teenage Life" (Paul Keenan Remix) (6:37)
5. "Teenage Life" (Rap-A-Long Mix) (3:02)

Charts

Chart (2006)	Peak position
UK Singles Official Charts Company[2]	8

References

1. "Dance track wins Eurovision vote". BBC News. 4 March 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-18.
2. "The UK's highest charting Eurovision stars revealed!". Retrieved 2015-05-10.

External links

• Lyrics at Diggiloo Thrush