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George Sampson
Personal information
Full name	George William Sampson
Date of birth	29 June 1993 (1993-06-29) (age 16)
Place of birth	Birchwood in Warrington, Cheshire, England
Group information
Current group	A2AA

George William Sampson (born 29 June 1993^[1]) is a street dancer from Warrington, England,^[2] and was the winner of the second series of Britain's Got Talent on 31 May 2008, aged 14.^[3] As a prize, he received £100,000 and the opportunity to perform at the 2008 Royal Variety Performance, staged at the London Palladium on 11 December 2008 (broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 17 December). George and Syco .. A spokeswoman for Syco insisted things were fine between George and Simon, and that their relationship was good. She added: “They could work together again in the future. The door is very much open for any other projects that come up.”

Britain's Got Talent

2007 series

In 2007, Sampson auditioned during the first round of Britain's Got Talent after a dance teacher told him there was audition in the area that was right up his alley. He only discovered it was for Britain's Got Talent when he arrived.^[4] In his audition, he danced to Drop (Timbaland feat. Magoo & Fatman Scoop), but despite Simon Cowell's enthusiasm, he was unable to convince the other two judges, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan, to let Sampson proceed to the live shows. This experience made Sampson determined to enter the 2008 auditions and prove Holden and Morgan wrong. In the intervening time he continued dancing on the streets of Warrington to improve his technique, and to raise money for his family & for dance lessons to continue his future career.

2008 series

Sampson got through the Britain's Got Talent auditions in 2008 by dancing to "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)". He then came top in the audience's vote in his semi-final with his arrangement of Mint Royale's big beat remix of "Singin' in the Rain", complete with an artificial rain machine onstage, a formula that had previously been produced in a television advertisement for the Volkswagen Golf GTI.^[5] He subsequently won the audience's vote in the final, beating dance group Signature (second place) and Andrew Johnston (third place). He broke into tears when his win was announced.^[6] Sampson was due to perform a different routine for the final, to a track by the Bee Gees,^[7] which he described as involving "a lot of movement without me actually doing anything".^[8] An hour before the final started he changed his mind and, after consulting Simon Cowell, opted to perform his winning act from the semi-final again.^[7]

The Mint Royale version of "Singin' In The Rain" went to number 1 in the UK on download sales alone in the week following Sampson's performance^[9] and Simon Cowell's label SyCo was bombarded with requests from fans to make a video for the song. It is the first time SyCo has signed up a non-singing act solely to make a video.^[10]

In an interview the day after the final, Sampson told of his return to normality the Monday after the event.^[11] He also told of his friendship with younger finalists, Andrew Johnston and Faryl Smith, saying that they weren't jealous of him winning. Sampson has stated several times that he will use his money to pay off his mother's mortgage despite her refusal, and possibly take his friends who also busk with him to LA as "it's always been their dream". He also stated that he might buy a Volkswagen Camper for his Mum to drive around in until he is old enough to do so himself.

After Britain's Got Talent

NatWest deal

On 26 June 2008, it was announced that Sampson would become the face of a new 11-18 account for NatWest bank, in a deal reportedly worth £1million.^[12]

Into the Hoods

On 4 August 2008, Sampson made his stage debut in the West End hip-hop musical Into the Hoods. With some exceptions, he appeared in the show until it stopped on 30 August. Of his new role, he said: "This year is getting better and better - Into the Hoods show is funky and young and I love the music in it – I can't wait to get dancing on that stage!". Into the Hoods was shown at the Novello Theatre in London and features music from the likes of the Gorillaz, Massive Attack, Basement Jaxx and many more. Sampson appeared as one of the lost boys.^[13][14]

Bebo

On 28 November 2008, it was announced that Sampson's record company and Bebo would work together to make an online television show called Follow My Lead which would include some dance move tutorials by Sampson, but also a behind the scenes look of events and rehearsals. They previously worked together to create a similar show on Leon Jackson.^[15]

Debut single and DVD

Simon Cowell initially planned to only release dance videos, but he wanted to do more. He asked the agent of Take That if he could get George to sing, but it turned out he already liked to sing from a young age.^[4] George's debut double a-side single titled Get Up on the Dance Floor/Headz Up was released on 24 November 2008, with the proceeds going to Great Ormond Street Hospital.^[16] After an early fault that meant the single couldn't be downloaded from iTunes for two days,^[17][18] the single finally debuted at number 30 in the UK Singles Chart^[19] and remained listed for 4 weeks. The single's position in the charts gradually lowered during that time.^[20]

On 1 December 2008, his dance DVD Access 2 All Areas was released.^[16] The one-hour^{[citation needed]} DVD contains a documentary about his rise to stardom, four music videos in which george sings as well as dances and a behind the scenes look of those videos, dance tutorials and a set of photographs.^[21][22][23]

2009

On 23 January 2009, Sampson helped to promote the new Nokia 5800 phone in London's Regent Street. He handed over the first Nokia 5800 sold^[24] and performed a live dance routine to Pump up the Volume remixed by VV Brown^[25] which he choreographed to go with a touch-sensitive dancefloor.^[26]

On 29 January, he launched the game Battle Strikers at Toy Fair 09.^[27] He also designed a plate for Blue Peter's Mission Nutrition appeal.^[28]

On 7 March and 14 March, he hosted a 'Street Dance Weekend' at the Alton Towers Resort as part of their new family themed weekends along side street crew Flava in which fans could attend workshops to learn one of his routines and dance alongside him.

On 28 May, Sampson was the guest star at the third Britain's Got Talent semi-final and performed before the results were announced. He also was a guest star in Britain's Got Talent the Live Tour 2009 and he said that Nottingham was his favorite on June 20, 2009.

On June 26, 2009, Sampson became a Patron of Dance Aid^[29] organised by the UK Registered Charity, Hope for Children ^[30][31]

He danced before the Rugby League match between Celtic Crusaders and Salford City Reds at Brewery Field on Saturday 11 July from around 5pm. The kick-off for the match was at 6pm. He also danced at half-time. He was also scheduled to make an appearance in Legoland Windsor on 18 July as part of "Legoland Live" ^[32]

In September 2009 Simon Cowell dumped Sampson after his career failed to take off.^[33][34][35] In the same month, Sampson was also evicted from his London flat following repeated acts of antisocial behaviour, such as playing music at unacceptably high volumes.^[36][37]

Also in September he starred in the first all British 3D feature film called 'Streetdance 3D' (alongside dance groups Diversity and Flawless) in which he plays a character called Eddie. Due to be released May 2010.

On 16 November, Sampson featured in the CBBC Newsround special: Whose Side Are You On? as part of the BBC's anti-bullying campaign which saw him speak out about how he was bullied when he was younger. Other stars that appeared in the programme were Joe Calzaghe, Aston Merrygold, Patsy Palmer and Gemma Hunt

2010

On 18 February 2010, it was announced that Sampson would be joining the cast of BBC drama series, Waterloo Road. His character, a sixth form student named Kyle Stack, is set to appear in the second half of the sixth series, to air later this year.^[38]

Works

Singles

DVDs

Filmography

Health

Sampson suffers from a rare condition called Scheuermann's disease, which affects developing bones in children and teenagers and can cause a curvature of the spine. "There's no way I'd ever give up dancing. Nothing would stop me," he told the paper. However, since the revelation Sampson said "It's not that bad." and claims that his doctor has said he's allowed to dance.^[41]

Awards and prizes

Sampson won the under-16 category in the United Dance Organisation's 2007 World Street Dance championships. Following his win of Britain's Got Talent, he returned to the 2008 championships at the Blackpool Winter Gardens to give a performance together with his dance group A2AA (Access 2 All Areas) and to accept an award for his contributions to raising the profile of street dance from UDO chairman Simon Dibley.^[42][43]

In the summer of 2008 he was one of 11 celebrities to receive an honourary scout badge to celebrate the 101st birthday of the Scouting Movement.^[44][45]

He also received an award in the category "Favourite Winner" at the 2008 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards^[46] and he performed his signature dance "Singing in the Rain" during the ceremony.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• George Sampson's Official Website
• George Sampson's Official Bebo Page
• Official A2AA Website (George's dance troupe)
• ITV's official Britain's Got Talent website
• George's Unofficial Fansite George Sampson Fan