DJ Sammy

It’s always interesting to look a little more closely at one-hit wonders, and look at what led up to that fleeting success in the first place and see just how they’ve fared since; OK, so DJ Sammy, or Samuel Bouriah as he was born, isn’t quite a one-hit wonder - his biggest success on the charts, 2001’s British number one smash ‘Heaven’, was followed up a year later by further top ten tracks in the UK that included a cover of Don Henley’s ‘The Boys of Summer’, but his moment to shine was over quickly enough that I feel you can include him amongst the number of those that were here one moment and gone the next. It was a real slow burn to success for DJ Sammy, too, with his career kicking off in his native Mallorca in Spain, where he began spinning tunes in local clubs; he knows, then, how to handle relative obscurity, and whilst he remains popular on the live circuit in his home country, that’s largely what he’s been faced with since 2002. His recent live sets have mixed up Eurodance with house and techno in a way that appeals to both the mainstream and the purists, and he remains a popular fixture at clubs across Europe.

It’s nice, sometimes, when artists don’t beat around the bush with their stage names and instead christen themselves in a manner that immediately reveals to the listener what they’re all about; credit’s due, then, to Ultrabeat, who give you a pretty clear idea from the very get go that you should be expecting high-tempo dance music, and little else. The Liverpudlian trio hail from Liverpool, having formed in 2002 after having met through DJ’ing in clubs like the legendary Cream and bonding over a shared love of happy hardcore, they first made an impression on the UK charts with ‘Pretty Green Eyes’ in 2003, which went in at number two on the singles rundown. They’ve never quite topped that since, but their two records to date - Ultrabeat: The Album in 2007 and The Weekend Has Landed in 2009 - have both fared well commercially and among the dance scene that Ultrabeat are so steeped in. Additionally, their live sets have won them acclaim from fans and critics alike, and they remain active across the UK and Europe, mixing intimate club sets with huge festival slots to this day; don’t rule out a return to chart success just yet, with plenty still left in the Ultrabeat tank.