# DJ Sammy

Samuel Bouriah (born 19 October 1969), better known by his stage name DJ Sammy, is a Spanish DJ and record 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 ex-wife Marie-José van der Kolk in the making of his first singles, under the stage name of DJ Sammy featuring Carisma.

## Career

DJ Sammy started his music career in 1984 in pubs and dance clubs of Mallorca. During this time he completed training as a sound technician at the Mallorca Music College. 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 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", and "Look for Love" co-produced by Nick Marsh.
In 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.
In July 2020, Sammy released the single "This Is Who We Are" with Australian vocalist Chloe Martin, and he uploaded the lyric video onto YouTube.

## Personal life

Bouriah has a daughter, Saphira María (born 10 February 2005), from his previous marriage with van der Kolk who is also a singer and performs under Firefox alongside her mother.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
| Title | Details | AUS | FIN | GER | NZ | SWE | UK | US | Certifications |
| Life Is Just a Game | Release date: 29 June 1998 Label: Universal Records Formats: CD | — | — | 62 | — | — | — | — | |
| Heaven | Release date: 6 August 2002 Label: Robbins Formats: CD | 64 | 30 | — | 10 | 24 | 14 | 67 | BPI: Gold |
| The Rise | Release date: 10 May 2005 Label: Central Station Formats: CD | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart ||||||||||

### DJ mixes

| Title | Details |
| DJ Sammy at Work | Release date: 1998 Label: Polystar Format: CD |

### Singles

| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album |
| Year | Single | AUS | AUT | BEL (Fl) | CAN | GER | IRL | NED | NOR | NZ | SWE | SWI | UK | US | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album |
| 1995 | "Life Is Just a Game" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Life Is Just a Game |
| 1996 | "You're My Angel" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Life Is Just a Game |
| 1997 | "Prince of Love" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Life Is Just a Game |
| 1997 | "Golden Child" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 43 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Life Is Just a Game |
| 1998 | "Magic Moment" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 67 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Life Is Just a Game |
| 1999 | "In 2 Eternity" (featuring Carisma) | — | — | — | — | 31 | — | — | — | — | — | 48 | — | — | | DJ Sammy at Work (In the Mix) |
| 1999 | "Lovestern Galaktika" (with Lovestern Galaktika Project) | — | — | — | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | The Music of a Dance-Generation |
| 2000 | "Loca Galaktika" (with Lovestern Galaktika Project) | — | — | — | — | 35 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | The Music of a Dance-Generation |
| 2001 | "Heaven" (with Yanou featuring Do) | 4 | 16 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 41 | 17 | 39 | 1 | 8 | ARIA: Platinum BPI: 2× Platinum IFPI NOR: Gold RIAA: Gold SNEP: Gold | Heaven |
| 2002 | "Sunlight" (featuring Loona) | 40 | 58 | 62 | — | 50 | 21 | 62 | — | 46 | — | — | 8 | — | | Heaven |
| 2002 | "The Boys of Summer" (featuring Loona & Mel) | 9 | 49 | 20 | — | 25 | 15 | 31 | — | 3 | 36 | — | 2 | — | ARIA: Gold BPI: Silver | Heaven |
| 2004 | "Rise Again" (featuring Loona) | — | — | — | — | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | 88 | — | — | | The Rise |
| 2005 | "Why" (featuring Britta Medeiros) | 29 | — | — | — | 64 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | — | | The Rise |
| 2005 | "L'bby Haba" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | The Rise |
| 2007 | "Everybody Hurts" (featuring Nyah) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Singles Only |
| 2009 | "Feel the Love" (featuring Nyah) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Singles Only |
| 2011 | "Animal" (featuring Jean Baptiste & Nyah) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Singles Only |
| 2012 | "Look for Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Singles Only |
| 2013 | "Shut Up & Kiss Me" (featuring The Jackie Boyz) | — | 54 | — | — | 65 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Singles Only |
| 2015 | "I Wanna Luv Ya" (as Mafia Clowns (with Zeus & The Harleking) feat. Sean Kingston) | — | — | — | — | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Singles Only |
| 2020 | "This Is Who We Are" (with Chloe Marin) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Singles Only |
| 2023 | "Braveheart" (with Renns featuring Scarlett) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2024 | "Wildfire" (with Achilles and Beks) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" 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" | Life Is Just a Game | |
| 1997 | "Golden Child" | Life Is Just a Game | Oliver Sommer |
| 1998 | "Magic Moment" | Life Is Just a Game | Oliver Sommer |
| 1999 | "In 2 Eternity" | DJ Sammy at Work (In the Mix) | — |
| 2002 | "Heaven" | Heaven | Oliver Bradford |
| 2002 | "Sunlight" | Heaven | — |
| 2002 | "Boys of Summer" | Heaven | — |
| 2004 | "Rise Again" | The Rise | |
| 2005 | "Why" | The Rise | Urban Ström |
| 2011 | "Animal" | Singles only | — |
| 2012 | "Look for Love" | Singles only | — |
| 2013 | "Shut Up and Kiss Me" | Singles only | Mark Feuerstake |