"Teenage Life" was the entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcas ...

, which was sung by

Daz Sampson Darren "Daz" Sampson (born 28 November 1974) is a British singer-songwriter, record producer and football manager. Sampson is known for his commercial dance music, as part of several groups, and his television appearances. He has had nine Top 3 ...

in English. On 4 March 2006, Sampson had won the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

show ''Making Your Mind Up'' with the song "Teenage Life", which was written and produced with John Matthews (a.k.a.

Ricardo Autobahn John Matthews (born 8 March 1978), better known by his stage name Ricardo Autobahn, is an English producer, songwriter and musician. He is also known in collaborations with Daz Sampson as in Rikki & Daz and the projects like Barndance Boys, Cu ...

) of the

Cuban Boys Cuban Boys are an English electronic group and production team, currently composed of Skreen B and Ricardo Autobahn; the band formerly also included B.L. Underwood ("Blu") and Jenny McLaren (Autobahn's sister). Their music is characterised b ...

, who were responsible for the Hampster Dance hit "

Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia "Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia" (meaning "the experts versus the intellectual elite"), also known as "C vs. I", is a song by English electronic music group the Cuban Boys. The song consists almost in its entirety of an unofficial soundalike Sam ...

" in 1999. Released on 8 May 2006, the song entered the UK Singles Chart on 14 May 2006, reaching the top 10 the following week and peaking at number 8.

At Eurovision

As a result of winning ''Making Your Mind Up'', Sampson represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest on 20 May 2006 in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, but only 10 of the 39 eligible countries voted for him and his total score was 25 points, placing him 19th out of the 24 acts (winning act

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...

from , amassed 292 points). The backing vocalists on "Teenage Life" were five young women, Emily Reed, Holly, 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 . She had been one of four finalists, singing "Help Me", finishing second to Jemini with the song " Cry Baby". Reed landed 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 reasons, including her age. In the BBC's 2013 documentary ''How to Win Eurovision'', Sampson admitted: "Rap may not be the best of ideas and maybe Europe was not ready for Daz Sampson."IBT.co.uk: ''Eurovision 2015: Worst and weirdest entries at the wacky song contest'' by Amy West, 23 May 2015
/ref>

Track listing

#"Teenage Life" (radio edit) (3:02) #"Teenage Life" (Uniting Nations remix) (6:48) #"Teenage Life" (JJ Mason remix) (5:40) #"Teenage Life" (Paul Keenan remix) (6:37) #"Teenage Life" (Rap-A-Long mix) (3:02)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

BBC News - Entertainment: ''Daz takes on Eurovision Mission'', Michael Osborn, 16 May 2006Lyrics
at Diggiloo Thrush {{Eurovision Song Contest 2006 2006 songs 2006 singles Eurovision songs of the United Kingdom Eurovision songs of 2006 Sony BMG singles Songs about teenagers Songs about school