Adnan Sami is a singer and musician of Pakistani origin. He is a Canadian citizen and lives in Mumbai.
Born to Arshad Sami Khan, a Pakistani Air Force pilot and diplomat on August 15, 1973, Adnan Sami was born and brought up in London and studied at the Rugby School and Kings College there. He learnt music from Pandit Shivkumar Sharma in India and thereafter, from Mahraj Khatak, in Pakistan.
The ten year old prodigy was spotted by Asha Bhosle at an R.D. Burman concert in London who urged him to pursue a career in music. He has a son, Azaan Khan from his first wife, Zeba Bhaktiar. He was also briefly married to Sabah Galadari and then got married again, for the third time to Roya Faryabi.
His first solo album “Raag Time” was released in 1990-91. He debuted as a music director in 1994 in the Pakistani movie “Sargam” which turned to be a blockbuster. Interestingly, the film had him playing the lead role along with his first wife Zeba Bhaktiar. Asha Bhosle was initially the playback singer in the movie but later had to be replaced with Hadiqa Kiyani due to objection from the Pakistani authorities. In 2000 he released the album “Kabhi To Nazar Milao” with Asha Bhosle. The album sold over 2 million copies and topped the Indipop charts in 2001. His Music video “Lift Karaa De” featured Superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda respectively. He later released another album, “Always Yours” which was the remix version of “Kabhi To Nazar Milao”.
Boney Kapoor was the first to initiate Adnan Sami into Bollywood films. In 2001, he sang the song “Tu Sirf Mera Mehboob” in the movie “Ajnabee” which became a super hit. In 2002, he became the brand ambassador for Pepsi Foods in India. In the same year, he got an opportunity to work with A.R. Rahman by singing the song “Aye Udi Udi” in the movie, “Saathiya”. Adnan Sami has also sung in Tamil films like “Boys” and “Ayitha Ezhuthu” composed by A.R. Rahman, which had hit songs like “Boom Boom” and “Nenjamellam Kadhal”. He also sang for South Indian music composers like Yuvan Shankar Raja, Devi Sri Prasad and Hamsalekha. His Kannada song “Don’t Worry Madabeda” in the film “Superstar” was again a big hit. He took a brief sabbatical in 2006 for his weight-loss surgery and returned in April 2007 with his new album “Kisi Din”.
Adnan Sami won a special award from the UNICEF for a song he wrote for famine ravaged Ethiopia as well as a Special Peace Medal from the United Nations for the song he composed and sang about Africa. He also won a place in the Limca Book of Records in 2003 for having sold out the tickets for his show at the Wembley Stadium in London for 2 consecutive nights.
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