Quick Facts
Biography
Samuel Bouriah (born 19 October 1969), better known by his stage name DJ Sammy, is a Spanish DJ and producer. He has released five albums and has had five top-10 hits, including a cover of Bryan Adams' "Heaven", which reached number one in the UK in 2002. His career started with former spouse Marie-José van der Kolk in the making of his first singles, under the stage name of DJ Sammy feat. Carisma. He has one daughter, Saphira María (born 10 February 2005), from his marriage with van der Kolk.
Career
DJ Sammy started his music career in 1984 in pubs (Siros pub – DJ Sammy worked there one summer season along with a well known PR in the area, Jose Crespo) and dance clubs of Mallorca, playing gigs at clubs such as Alexandra's (rebuilt around 1998/99 and renamed to Boomerang's), Banana's and Zorba's. During this time he completed training as a sound technician at the Majorca Music College. He was also a DJ at the Cadena Top radio station. In 1991, he met dancer Marie-José van der Kolk and they performed at Zorba's Club in Palma. In 1992, DJ Sammy became resident DJ at the Joy Palace Club in Arenal and Marie Jose was a resident dancer there.
In November 1995, DJ Sammy released his first single "Life Is Just a Game" with Marie-José who started singing. The track became a Top 10 hit in the Spanish record chart. Other singles, such as "You're My Angel" and "Prince of Love", have been popular in the German record chart. In June 1998, DJ Sammy released his debut album, Life Is Just a Game.
DJ Sammy founded his own dance music label, Super M Records, as well as the Gamba Music Company. In 2002, Sammy released the album, Heaven with charting singles released such as "Sunlight" and cover versions of Bryan Adams, "Heaven" with Dutch vocalist Do and Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer".
In 2005, his next album was The Rise, with charting singles such as "Rise Again" which was featured on the 2004 movie soundtrack, It's All Gone Pete Tong, and a cover of Annie Lennox's "Why".
In 2007 Sammy collaborated with Enrique Iglesias, remixing his song "Tired of Being Sorry", the second track from his hit album, Insomniac. Following this success, in April 2007, Marta Sánchez released the song "Superstar", produced and co-written by Sammy. The song was her biggest hit since "Soy Yo". On David Bisbal's album Premonición, Sammy wrote and produced the track "Aquí Ahora". He also worked on Soraya Arnelas' album, Sin Miedo.
He toured the world with the Balearic Masters tour, which commenced at the end of 2007. He took his protégé, writer and singer, Nyah, who featured on the tracks "Everybody Hurts", "Feel the Love", "Animal" with Jean-Baptiste, and "Look for Love".
On June 2013 Sammy released the single such as "Shut Up and Kiss Me" with a vocalist The Jackie Boyz, the music video is directed by Mark Feuerstake. On 18 June 2013, he uploaded the music video onto YouTube.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIN | AUS | NZ | SWE | UK | US | |||||||||
| Life Is Just a Game |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| Heaven |
| 30 | 64 | 10 | 24 | 14 | 67 | |||||||
| The Rise |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Compilation albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIN | AUS | NZ | SWE | UK | US | |||||||||
| DJ Sammy at Work |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | AUT | BEL (Vl) | CAN | GER | IRL | NED | NOR | NZ | SUI | SWE | UK | U.S. | ||||
| 1995 | "Life Is Just a Game" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Life Is Just a Game | |
| 1996 | "You're My Angel" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1997 | "Prince of Love" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Golden Child" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 43 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1998 | "Magic Moment" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 67 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1999 | "In 2 Eternity" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 31 | — | — | — | — | 48 | — | — | — | DJ Sammy at Work (In the Mix) | |
| "Lovestern Galaktika" (with Lovestern Galaktika Project) | — | — | — | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Music of a Dance-Generation | ||
| 2000 | "Loca Galaktika" (with Lovestern Galaktika Project) | — | — | — | — | 35 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001 | "Heaven" (with Yanou featuring Do) | 4 | 16 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 41 | 39 | 17 | 1 | 8 |
| Heaven |
| 2002 | "Sunlight" (featuring Loona) | 40 | 58 | 62 | — | 50 | 21 | 62 | — | 46 | — | — | 8 | — | ||
| "The Boys of Summer" (featuring Loona & Mel) | 9 | 49 | 20 | — | 25 | 15 | 31 | — | 3 | — | 36 | 2 | — |
| ||
| 2004 | "Rise Again" (featuring Loona) | — | — | — | — | 53 | — | — | — | — | 88 | — | — | — | The Rise | |
| 2005 | "Why" (featuring Britta Medeiros) | 29 | — | — | — | 64 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | — | ||
| "L'bby Haba" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2007 | "Everybody Hurts" (featuring Nyah) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Singles Only | |
| 2009 | "Feel the Love" (featuring Nyah) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011 | "Animal" (featuring Jean Baptiste & Nyah) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012 | "Look for Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013 | "Shut Up & Kiss Me" (featuring The Jackie Boyz) | — | 54 | — | — | 65 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2015 | "I Wanna Luv Ya" (as Mafia Clowns (with Zeus & The Harleking) feat. Sean Kingston) | — | — | — | — | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||||
Music videos
| Year | Song | Album | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | "You're My Angel" | Life Is Just A Game | |
| 1997 | "Prince of Love" | ||
| "Golden Child" | Oliver Sommer | ||
| 1998 | "Magic Moment" | ||
| 1999 | "In 2 Eternity" | DJ Sammy at Work (In the Mix) | N/A |
| 2002 | "Heaven" | Heaven | Oliver Bradford |
| "Sunlight" | N/A | ||
| "Boys of Summer" | N/A | ||
| 2004 | "Rise Again" | The Rise | |
| 2005 | "Why" | Urban Ström | |
| 2011 | "Animal" | Singles Only | N/A |
| 2012 | "Look for Love" | N/A | |
| 2013 | "Shut Up and Kiss Me" | Mark Feuerstake |