Sampson was born in
Stockport,
England, and went into radio broadcasting at 17 after an injury halted a potential career as a pro footballer. He spent several years working within commercial radio as well as
Radio Luxembourg; from there he made the transition from playing music to making music.
Bus Stop Sampson had his first chart success with the group
Bus Stop (with Graham Turner, Mark Hall, and Nikki Reid (Lane)). Bus Stop had four UK hits, the most successful being "
Kung Fu Fighting" featuring
Carl Douglas, which sold 250,000 copies in the UK and over one million worldwide.
BBC Radio 1 DJ
Chris Moyles responded to a letter from Sampson by championing his records on the station and inviting him to contribute comedy moments on his radio show. During this period, Sampson was almost a daily guest on the Radio 1 show, and from this came a deal with BMG for his act Blown Out. Other Bus Stop hits included remakes of "
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" featuring
Randy Bachman, "
Jump" by
Van Halen, and "
Get It On" by
T. Rex. Many of the Bus Stop songs and remakes have been featured on the
Dancemania series. Because of the deal that Konami had with
Toshiba EMI back then, some of Bus Stop songs made it to the popular game series
Dance Dance Revolution, including "Kung Fu Fighting", "Kick the Can", "Swing It", "One Two (Little Bitch)", "Na-Na", "Swing It", and "
Long Train Runnin'"
Fraud Squad As the Bus Stop project was folding, in 2000, Daz Sampson formed a duo with JJ Mason. As Fraud Squad, the duo released "Together (We Can Make It)" which was popular in European night clubs, and was a hit single in France, spending seven weeks in the official French singles chart. JJ Mason made many remixes of Daz Sampson and Rikki and Daz songs, including "The Woah Song" and "Teenage Life".
Sampson & Mason Daz Sampson and JJ Mason would return in 2006 with two releases under the name Sampson & Mason, "The Crown" and "The Feeling".
Rikki & Daz In this period, Sampson formed
Rikki & Daz with John Matthews (aka
Ricardo Autobahn, hence "Rikki") of the
Cuban Boys. Their 2002 single "
Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)", featuring a new vocal from country music legend
Glen Campbell, reached No. 12 in the UK. Another release as Rikki and Daz was the remake of
DJ Bobo's hit "
Chihuahua". credited to "Rikki & Daz Vs. JJ Mason Remix".
Barndance Boys / DJ Daz The pair continued to work together under various names, including The Barndance Boys (for the minor hit single "Yippie I Oh") and DJ Daz ("The Woah Song", a remake of
Baltimora's "
Tarzan Boy"). Matthews later co-wrote Sampson's Eurovision song, "
Teenage Life".
Uniting Nations In 2004, Sampson returned to the Liverpool dance music scene, and he formed a partnership with producer Paul Keenan and under the name
Uniting Nations. They released "
Out of Touch", a remake of a
Hall & Oates hit, which sold 150,000 copies of the single in the United Kingdom and became a European hit. Other big hits included "
You And Me" (which reached No. 15 in the UK), proving yet another hit in Europe, and "
Ai No Corrida", which reached No. 18, also in the UK.
Smash Hits readers and
T4 viewers voted Uniting Nations "Best Dance Act" at the last ever
Poll Winners Party in 2005. Sampson also had three number one singles in Poland with Uniting Nations. ==Eurovision Song Contest==