Samuel Bashir Virji (born 30 September 1996) is an English DJ and record producer. Born in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, he grew up in
Witney
Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford.
History
The Toponymy, place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest kno ...
, and attended
Newcastle University
Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...
before dropping out to pursue his music career. His 2020 album, ''Spice Up My Life'', charted at No. 7 on the
UK Dance Albums Chart. After releasing a remix of
Piri & Tommy's "
On & On", he released "If U Need It", which charted at No. 85 on the
UK singles chart. His earlier works belonged to the
bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...
genre, while his later works were
UK garage
UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...
.
Life and career
Samuel Virji was born in London, and moved to
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
when he was slightly older,
settling in
Witney
Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford.
History
The Toponymy, place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest kno ...
. He has
South Asian
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
heritage. His father played trombone on ''
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'' is the debut solo studio album by American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 19, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. Recorded after the Fugees embarked on a hiatus, the a ...
'', an album described by
DJ Mag
''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...
in June 2024 as "one of the most critically and commercially successful albums in both neo soul and popular music", and his record collection included
Latin music
Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...
,
African music
The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
.
Sammy's first major musical interest was in
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
, followed by
Motown
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
. He started writing on piano and guitar, before making his own music on
GarageBand
GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...
, switching to
Logic Pro
Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software devel ...
when he had access to the computer at his father's house.
He began listening to
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
aged sixteen after a friend gave him "Rinse: 06",
a
Rinse FM
Rinse FM is a London-based community radio station, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres po ...
CD mixed by
Plastician
Chris Reed (born 30 October 1982), also known as Plastician (formerly Plasticman), is an Englishelectronic musician from Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon.
History
Plastician, real name Chris Reed is a DJ from Croydon in South ...
, followed by a CD mixed by
Skream
Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known professionally as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon. Skream has released records on several British record labels, such as Tempa, Tectonic, and Big Apple Records, and ...
.
He studied biology at
Newcastle University
Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...
.
While there, he became involved in bassline after seeing
Flava D
Danielle Anne Louise Gooding, professionally known as Flava D, is an English UK garage, grime, bassline and drum and bass DJ and music producer. She was previously signed to the Butterz record label and is now signed to Hospital Records. She is ...
perform at a club and deciding that he wanted to follow suit.
He dropped out during the third year after calculating that he was able to make a living from music.
He began releasing his early works in the bassline genre in 2015. Many of his works until 2019 made use of images of television chef
Ainsley Harriott
Ainsley Denzil Dubriel Harriott (born 28 February 1957) is an English chef and television presenter. He is known for his BBC cooking game shows '' Can't Cook, Won't Cook'' and ''Ready Steady Cook''.
Early life
Harriott was born in Paddingt ...
. Around this time, he was a regular poster on the
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
group Lengoland, a
bass music
Bass music is a term used to describe several genres of electronic dance music and hip hop music arising from the 1980s on, focusing on a prominent bass drum and/or bassline sound. As one source notes, there are "many different types of bass music ...
forum which functioned between 2017 and 2021.
He changed direction away from bassline, producing UK garage in the late 2010s. Around this time, Conducta asked if he could release one of Virji's tracks on his Kiwi Rekords label.
The label released several of his works including "Shapes" and "Whippet".
In 2020, Virji released his debut album, ''Spice Up My Life'', having previously released the single "Until Tomorrow" from it. It charted at No. 7 on the
UK Dance Albums Chart.
Later that year, he released "Santorini", a collaboration with house musician Smokey Bubblin' B, which appeared on the 1Forty compilation EP ''1FFNG005: Funky & Garage''.
In 2022, his track "Daga Da" was used in an
out-of-home advertising
Outdoor advertising or out-of-home (OOH) advertising includes public billboards, wallscapes, and posters seen while "on the go". OOH advertising formats fall into four main categories: billboards, street furniture, Transit media, transit, and a ...
campaign for a
low calorie derivative of
Strongbow, a brand of cider. He then released a remix of Piri & Tommy's "On & On". In December 2022,
Salute
A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Sc ...
premiered their Sammy Virji collaboration "Peach" at a
Boiler Room set in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
.
The track had been written with Salute at a writing session and had been produced by
trial and error
Trial and error is a fundamental method of problem-solving characterized by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the practicer stops trying.
According to W.H. Thorpe, the term was devised by C. Lloyd Morgan ( ...
.
Released in March 2023,
the track appeared on Salute's EP ''Shield'', which was released that May. The month after that, he released "Shella Verse" with
Flowdan
Marc Veira (born 17 March 1980), better known by his stage name Flowdan, is an English grime MC and record producer. A founding member of Roll Deep, he was responsible for naming the group and remained a member until its hiatus. In 2015, he fou ...
. Around this time, he undertook a headline tour, "Like a Virjin", which sold out across the UK.
In August 2023, he performed a set for
DJ Mag
''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...
.
For this, he created a remix of "Counting" by Hamdi, which sampled
Mason
Mason may refer to:
Occupations
* Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces
* Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...
and
Princess Superstar
Concetta Suzanne Kirschner (born February 25, 1971), better known as Princess Superstar, is an American rapper, singer and DJ. She has had two chart hits in the UK, the humorous song "Bad Babysitter", which reached number 11 on the UK Singles ...
's "
Perfect (Exceeder)
"Perfect (Exceeder)" is a collaboration between Dutch musician Mason and American rapper Princess Superstar. The track is a mashup of Mason's 2006 instrumental dance track " Exceeder" and Princess Superstar's 2005 single " Perfect". It was in ...
", and a remix of "Goodums" by
Unknown T
Daniel Richie Lena (born 17 August 1999), known professionally as Unknown T, is a British-Ugandan rapper. His post release album ''Rise Above Hate'' (2020) was a major hit on the UK music scene, with the album reaching the top of the charts in i ...
.
In May 2024, Felicity Martin of ''Planet Woo'' wrote that across his set, Virji "dips between bassline and UKG, reggae and old school house, with a megawatt smile across his face".
Several clips from the show went viral on
TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
including Virji cuing in "Hot in Here" with a rubber fish in reference to a
pescetarian
Pescetarianism ( ; sometimes spelled pescatarianism) is a dietary practice in which seafood is the only source of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet. The inclusion of other animal products, such as eggs and dairy, is optional. According to res ...
university friend and the fire alarm going off during "Peach" due to the amount of sweat in the air.
The following November, he released "If U Need It",
which charted at No. 85 on the UK singles chart.
He then released the singles "Hot in Here", "Moonlight", and "Summertime Blues",
the last of which featured
Chris Lake
Chris Lake (born 8 August 1982) is an English electronic dance music producer and DJ. He rose to fame in 2006 with his hit single, "Changes", featuring Laura V. He is a member of Under Construction with FISHER, and also a member of Anti Up wit ...
and
Nathan Nicholson.
Discography
Albums
EPs
Singles
Remixes
Other appearances
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virji, Sammy
1996 births
Living people
British Asian musicians
English electronic musicians
English electronic dance music DJs
English record producers
English people of Asian descent
Musicians from Oxfordshire
People from Witney
English remixers
UK garage musicians