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I'm coming back!
Exclusive: Daz Sampson speaks to esctoday.com
Daz won the United Kingdom’s ticket to Athens at the 2006 Making your mind up competition at the BBC Centre in London, overcoming the heavily fancied Antony Costa and Kym Marsh amongst others. Following his runaway victory, Daz along with many others, fancied his chances of reaching a high position at the Eurovision Song Contest. The result at the end of the night was a surprisingly low 19th place, with only 25 points on the board.
Looking back, Daz says:
"I didn’t do as well as I was saying vocally at the time, but wouldn’t change a single thing. I have looked back on my performance and I couldn’t fault it. My performance in the final was the best that I gave in my time in Athens. I brought a different angle for a UK entrant and I don’t regret a single moment. I feel that there’s unfinished business and I want to go back! I’m not making excuses for the result, I won’t stand here and say that it was all politics because it’s not although I was surprised at the UK voting 10 points for Lithuania!
Lordi genuinely deserved to win it. Underneath the masks, they were nice people and I wished them tremendously well. I embraced everyone except the Iceland girl, who took things a little too far."
Documentary Daz
Daz featured in a documentary aired on BBC3 in May, following his route to Athens, and a second documentary featuring the build-up to Athens and his time in at the Eurovision Song Contest has been prepared. There is no fixed date for transmission of the show as yet, although it is hoped that the BBC will show the programme at Christmas time, or if Daz is participating in Making your mind up 2007, in February or March.
Daz was proud to feature in the programmes, and says that it shows just how seriously the competition was taken my himself, his backing singers, the BBC team and everyone connected with the entry.
"There will be a clip of it going up on the net – people will see how affected I was by it – you can see the Romanians in the background getting 10 points, you can see the girls mortified. We were gobsmacked, I knew that maybe we wouldn’t win, but I at least thought we could make the top 10."
Breaking into Ruslana's loo
Since May, Daz has been concentrating on several other projects and performing across Europe. There have been some moments where he crossed paths with fellow former Eurovision performers."I was actually with Ruslana at a big beach party in Latvia this summer. She was the headline act and I was on stage before her. I did get a chance to speak to her a couple of times. As the headline artist, she had her own private portaloo, and I needed to go! I picked the lock because there was no time to get to the others! Then I shared her coach back to the airport because I missed mine!"
Daz was a confirmed and openly vocal fan of the Eurovision Song Contest long before he participated. He tried to enter for the UK in 2005, and his opinions about the contest have not changed after he realised his goal of representing his country in Athens and it’s certainly no secret that Daz is already plotting a return to the longest running television music show in the world! He told us:
"I loved it, it’s in my blood now and I want to do it again! I’ve done a lot in my career and the exposure that the Eurovision Song Contest gave me has opened up many new doors.
The BBC got fanatastic viewing figures and I want to put myself up again for Making your mind up. This time I’m enlisting the help of Carol Decker, and we’d love to get back into MYMU. If we can get through the UK final, which is incredibly difficult, we’ll give it our best shot."
Asked about how this exciting, if not slightly unexpected collaboration came together, Daz explained:
"In true Daz fashion… In the dressing room after Eurovision, everyone’s heads were down, but I said ‘I’m coming back’. I definitely raised the profile of ESC in the UK, because everyone from van drivers to grandparents got behind me.
This time, I’m going back to Eurovision roots, trying to maintain a current modern flavour. The song with Carol doesn’t have any rap. It’s more like The Streets meets classic Eurovision ballad. There’s an added incentive because it’s an unusual combination of a modern DJ and an 80s singer. There’s no gimmick this time, it’ll be brilliant but serious! Carol will get media attention at Making your mind up, which is something I didn’t have last time. It was all about Kym and Anthony before the night. I wrote the song and thought it would be perfect for Carol. I got her email from her fan site, sent her an email with my idea, and she said yes. She said how much of an honour it would be to perform for the UK at Eurovision, and she definitely knows her Eurovision stuff, she knows the songs from the UK’s history."
But would it be harder to win MYMU a second time round?
"Of course! Last year I was the unknown quantity. This year people will know all about me. People may think that it’s the same old thing, and after last year want something different. If I get to do MYMU again, it could be another unknown that comes up on the rails and I’ll be the first to congratulate them. I will probably go to the contest anyway after experience in Athens, even if I’m not performing."
Esctoday would like to wish Daz the best of luck for his upcoming projects and we look forward to following his progress in Making your mind up 2007 if he is back on the show.
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carol decker was in T'Pau in the 80's they sang china in your hand and sold millions of cd's. i think that daz is really cool for doing this, i heard an except of the song i think he is planning to do for 2007 and it sounds really good, i think its about time the uk got a credible placing, people say that the uk will never win the eurovision song contest ever again, but i think this is stupid. They say that only eastern bloc countries can win but if this is true why is it that only former soviet states do not win every year, i think it is as open as ever. I intend to enter my song "United We Stand" into making your mind up 2008 and i hope that as a fellow eurovision fan i will have your support. viva europe!!
Who is this Carol Decker anyway???
drusus 1 No change there then!
Daz made a terrefic job at ESC 2006. He had my 7 points of he night. If he has another great song, welcome back.
I got to squeeze Daz's palm in Athens (such lovely soft hands) and he seemed like such a down to earth, genuine person. He had so much belief in his song, and I have to agree that he did nothing wrong. Daz and the girls did a brilliant job. If he wants to try again then good luck to him. Thankfully it won't be another rap song, but it's sounding interesting already. Best of luck Daz!
GOOD LUCK DAZ! YOU WERE DEFINETELY ROBBED! 'TEENAGE LIFE' WAS MY FAVOURITE SONG FOR 2006!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a though Carol Decker at Eurovision............What a voice....................One of the best voices of the 80's and we all know she can sing a damn good song from a ballad through to something more rockier.
Good Luck Daz and Carol
Participate in an online songcontest?
[url=http://www.freewebs.com/esconline[]http://www.freewebs.com/esconline[/url]
You know that with Daz you're going to get total commitment to the show, the competition and the Spirit of Eurovision. Carol Decker is a great performer with a strong vocals and stage presence, so I for one think this will be a top partnership!
You know that with Daz you're going to get total commitment to the show, the competition and the Spirit of Eurovision. Carol Decker is a great performer with a strong vocals and stage presence, so I for one think this will be a top partnership!
Daz seems like a nice guy. He is friendly and honest. I have the feeling that he was Mr Nice Guy to the Athens ESC.
His song in Athens was a novelty, a fresh taste and decent. His performance was also very good and energetic. The problem is that the song and the whole set were not too atractive to make the viewers vote for. This is the reason of the poor result on the scoreboard. I don't think politics, Tony Blair or the war in Iraq have to do anything with UK's score any more. The previous UK entrants may have payed this cost but not Daz.
He definitely has the right to have a shot again. Although i am not quite sure that the British audience will give him the ticket to Helsinki this time. People need new faces and ideas.
I would like to hear again a high quality entry from the UK like "Love shine a light". This was a tasteful winning song for which i would be proud of. You guys have the recipe, why dont you try it again?
Er wake up and smell the coffee Daz!!!! You were crap!!!
Oh dear. PLEASE don't bring him back.... after the trash he gave us this year I don't think he deserves a second chance.
" I embraced everyone except the Iceland girl, who took things a little too far "...no pts from Iceland next year, if he should return to the ESC I guess 
.
Carol Decker has an amazing voice, and if Daz & Carol can produce a great sounding modern ballad, it could be just what the UK needs.
Go Daz, and Go Carol
If Daz wants to do Eurovision again let him! Good luck to him I say!! 
Send Jessica Garlick to Eurovision again! She was the best!!! (What a diva!)
Daz Sampson was a deserved UK entrant with "Teenage Life". He DAZzled viewers
with a WONDERFUL performance at the [b]ESC 2006 ATHENS | Final[/b]!!!
A job well done!
I agree with Zau Zau,
What a thug breaking into someones loo must have a bladder problem..... probably explains his "dance moves" in his peformance!
I hope not to see him in Eurovision again!
And stop complaining about voting it depends on the taste of a country and usually neighbour countries (ex yugoslavia and ex ussr) willl vote because artists are famous in neighbour countries and they share musical taste!
there really are some fools on here, Bus stop was 8 years ago, since then daz has had far greater success and single sales. why do we allways knock our own in this country, i say fair play to him....fact is he is the type of guy who along with carol decker has a chance of winning Mymu.
ok the guy didnt win eurovision, but he certainly changed my mind on it as i watched it for the first time in 4 years..also correctly if i am wrong but i cant recall james fox or javine being so openly vocal about trying again.
Oi, Bus Stop. You've had your fifteen minutes, now f off.
By that interview you can see he's a genuinely nice man - not pervy!! lol! However he can't stand there and say there aren't politics. And Lithuania was helped by the hoards of eastern Europeans in Ireland & the UK. I think he should come back again sometime (maybe 3 or 4 years time) but lose the schoolgirls! Btw I loved Silvia Night, funny to see however that he got on with the other piss-takers from Lithuania but not the hilarious (well, in my strange opinion!) Silvia! I love Silvia night lol!
Anyways good look to him in the future!
Hopefully one day we will send a famous person to ESC! On MYMU this year I remember hoping that Antony Costa wouldn't win, but maybe it would have been better if he had because perhaps he would have done better. Ah well, you can't change the past! Can't wait; only 5 months till MYMU again! 8 months till ESC! Where has the time gone?!
if Daz is gonna be like a DJ this time then cool...his dance stuff is ok. Carol Decker will be a decent choice for the UK
I think that any other year we would have done a lot better with that song but it was a weird combination of a serious act AND novelty act. This year simply had to many songs that were novelty acts so we didn't stick out as much as we would usually have done. I think Daz should try Eurovision again but not next year!!!!!! Its too soon! The best result we have had in the last few years was James Fox with a ballady song. Maybe its time to go back to something like that. If not a more up beat song like Touch My Fire would be good, a lot of people seem to have really liked it but it was a few days after Blairs re-election and we had to perform in the dreaded 2nd position not to mention other things *cough* block voting *cough* but i think if we don't do well next year we should just send songs that us in the UK rather than trying to please the other countries you never know they may like a bit of Franz Ferdinand or Keane lol.
Good Luck for the future Daz you did your country proad even if it wasn't the result we wanted (someone has to come 19th don't they? lol) and by all means come back and try again just not next year.
I think Daz is the guy for Eurovision , I didnt like the song at all but his performance was great, good luck to him in 2007, if the bbc get their finger out and make it a year to remember we might get back some cred in Eurovision.
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