Cesár Sampson (born 18 August 1983) is an Austrian singer, songwriter, producer, dancer and model. He was also a social worker and fitness coach. He represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Nobody but You", winning the jury vote, coming in 13th place in the televote and finishing in third place overall.
In the music production domain, he is part of the music formation Symphonix or Symphonix International, a musical production and events project, mostly active in Austria, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. Borislav "Boby" Milanov is the CEO with the other members being Johan Alkenäs, Joacim Persson and Cesár Sampson himself. Symphonix has been involved in the launching of a number of songs particularly for the Eurovision Song Contest including "Dance Alone" by Macedonian singer Jana Burčeska, "Bones" by Bulgarian band Equinox, "Beautiful Mess" by Bulgarian singer Kristian Kostov and Cesár Sampson's own entry for Austria "Nobody but You".
Sampson also worked with the formation Electric Church.[1]
On 5 December 2017, he was announced as the Austrian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.[2][3][4] He sang "Nobody but You". The song is composed by Sampson himself as well as Boris Milanov and Sebastian Arman, who have been involved in the composition of a number of songs for Bulgaria.[5] He went on to win the jury vote with 271 points, but finished third overall, after taking into account the televoting where he ranked 13th with 71 points, thus preserving him the third overall position, with the public vote favouring Israel as the winner and Cyprus as the runner-up. This was the third highest ranking of all Austrian entries after its two Eurovision winning songs, first in Eurovision 1966 with "Merci, Chérie" by Udo Jürgens and 48 years later in Eurovision 2014 with "Rise like a Phoenix" with Conchita Wurst. Later that year, he appeared as a guest star in the Christmas edition of the Spanish TV program Operación Triunfo.
Sampson was born in Linz, Austria. His father is a choreographer and pilates master teacher of Saint Lucian origin, who introduced pilates in the German-speaking countries.[citation needed] Sampson himself became a personal trainer and strength and mobility coach in pilates. His mother was a pianist, singer and songwriter most famous for co-writing and performing the theme song of the popular Austrian TV series Inspector Rex (German: Kommissar Rex). Sampson is also the nephew of Helen "Pepsi" DeMacque from the 1980s duo Pepsi & Shirlie.[6] He also sang as a lead vocalist for Mike Oldfield.
Sampson worked for many years as a social worker. He studied sports sciences getting a diploma and starting at age 20, he worked for several years as a physical therapist, and in particular, worked with people with disabilities and handicaps. Sampson has done modeling, and is signed to a Slovak model agency.
