"Teenage Life" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Eurovision Song Contest 2006

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May and 20 May 2006 . The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi . The Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song "Hard Rock...

, which was sung by Daz Sampson

Daz Sampson

Darren "Daz" Sampson is a British dance music producer, musician and singer-songwriter.Up until 2006, when he represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest, Sampson was best known for his commercial dance music, often reworkings of older songs as a solo act and as a member of various...

 in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.

On 4 March 2006, Sampson had won the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 show Making Your Mind Up

United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 by Daz Sampson with the song "Teenage Life". He finished in 19th place with 25 points.-National final:...

with the song "Teenage Life", which was written and produced with John Matthews (aka Ricardo Autobahn

Ricardo Autobahn

John Matthews better known by his stage name Ricardo Autobahn is an English producer, songwriter and musician.Matthews is a member of the bands Spray and the Cuban Boys, who are most famous for their "pass off" UK Christmas hit "Cognoscenti Vs. Intelligentsia"...

) from the Cuban Boys

Cuban Boys

The Cuban Boys are a British band and production team, currently composed of Skreen B and Ricardo Autobahn; the band formerly also included B.L. Underwood and Jenny McLaren . Their music is characterised by fast electronic beats, heavy reliance upon samples and the repetition of the words "The...

, who were responsible for the Hampster Dance

The Hampster Dance

The Hampster Dance or Hampsterdance is one of the earliest examples of an Internet meme. Created by Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte for a Geocities page, the dance features rows of animated hamsters and other rodents dancing in various ways to a sped-up sample from the song "Whistle Stop" by...

hit "Cognoscenti Vs. Intelligentsia

Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia

"Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia" is a song by the Cuban Boys. The song consists almost in its entirety of a sampled loop from "Whistle Stop" by Roger Miller which was featured in the Disney movie Robin Hood...

" in 1999. The song entered the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 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

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 on 20 May 2006 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, 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

Lordi

Lordi is a Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band, formed in 1996 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume-designer, Mr. Lordi. The band is known for wearing monster masks and using pyrotechnics during concerts...

, from Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, amassed 292 points).

External links

• Lyrics at Diggiloo Thrush