Adnan Sami is one of the most famous singers, writers, and composers who initially got fame in Pakistan but later shifted to neighboring country India. He is now officially known to the world as an Indian celebrity since he has got the citizenship of the country.
He has gained his early success in Pakistan, he has sung some of the outstanding songs and composed songs that still people fall in love with it. His songs were famous all over the world, in his early career he started collaborating with famous Bollywood actors such as Govinda and Amitabh Bachchan.
There have been a lot of struggles and hard times he faced. From personal to professional life but he stood. Plus, the way he transformed himself that’s the true inspiration and people loved the way he changed himself.
Being an Indian artist, he received some big awards that made him more popular in India, and his fame reached to next level.
Early life
Adnan Sami was born in born in London, England on 15 August 1971. He was raised and brought up in London, although his father Arshad Sami Khan, was a Pakistani Pashtun and his beloved mother Naureen Khan was an Indian from Jammu.
Adnan went to Rugby school and for his bachelor’s, he followed to pursue a law degree (LLB) from King’s College London. From a very early age, Adnan Sami was into music and was especially in love with the piano. At the age of five, he started playing piano and at 9 he composed his first music.
He took piano lessons in Indian classical music from the santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma whenever he visited India on vacations. His seriousness for the music was built when one of the veteran singers in India Asha Bhosle saw him performing when he was ten years old and she at an R. D. Burman concert in London, and encouraged him to take up music as a career.
He had a great command over music and rhythm. He has a great sense of music with command in Indian and Western classical/semi-classical music, jazz, rock, and pop music.
In 1986, his first single got released “Run for his life” and it was for UNICEF. With his first single, it straight went to No. 1 in the music charts in the Middle East. Right after two years in 1869, he release his first album The One & Only. This album was the ultimate classic one on the piano where he was accompanied by tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.
He then turned into the singing side as well. He also released his first vocal album Raag Time in 1991. The album consists of a lot of tracks, among them Teri Yaad was the title track of his first album and it was a big hit in Pakistan.
His musical career was booming, in a very short period, he also got the chance to compose music for the film as well.
You can say, he’s an all-rounder because he also did acting in a movie Sargam Pakistani film where he was leading actor and Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle did the playback Sargam. However, the authorities banned Asha’s voice from the soundtrack which disappointed Adnan.
Personal Life
Apart from his career, his personal life was also tragic and surprising. He was married first to actress Zeba Bakhtiar in 1993 with her had a son named Azaan Sami Khan. But their love couldn’t go further and divorced after three years of marriage.
Since then he shifted to India and lived there on a visitor’s visa which he used to extend from time to time. In 2001, Adnan married Dubai-based Arab Sabah Galadari. It was a second marriage for both of them. She also had a son, but their marriage also didn’t last long and ended up in divorce a year-and-a-half later.
He was also battling with his overweight issue, in 2006, he claimed that “his doctor had given him just six months to live.” He and Sabah again remarried but still Sabah filed for divorce again.
In 2010, he finally found the love of his life, Roya Sami Khan, the daughter of a retired diplomat and army general. Their love was real, that’s the reason on 10 May 2017, he became a father to a daughter, Medina Sami Khan.
After being in India for a long time, in 2015 he applied for citizenship of India to the Ministry of Home Affairs when his Pakistan passport was officially expired. He lived for endless numbers of years in India, which made it easier for him to become a citizen of India. Later, on 10 May 2017, he became a father to a daughter, Medina Sami Khan.
Rise of fame in India
For Adnan Sami his rise of fame in India made his dream come true, because in 1997, in 2000, Asha Bhosle teamed up with him to release a collection of love songs named Kabhi to Nazar Milao. The album was a blockbuster and topped the Indipop charts for most of 2001.
He was a sensation in India, which made one of the biggest filmmakers Boney Kapoor invite him to give music for his film. There he was climbing the ladder of success in India and started producing music for Bollywood films. He worked with some of the top Hindi film producers of the time like Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai.
In 2001, he composed for the movie Ajnabee, where he sang Tu Sirf mera Mehboob which ultimately became the hit song of that time. 2002 was the year when his other dream come true to work with the maestro A.R Rahman for the movie Saathiya.
Awards and Achievements
In his entire career, Adnan Sami has earned endless love and support from all over the world. That’s the reason he received some great awards for his outstanding and memorable work.
- Special Award from the U.K. Parliament (House of Commons) for his ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sub-Continental Music’.
- He was presented the “Naushad Music Award” by the Andhra Pradesh Department of Culture, in Hyderabad.
- He also won “Best International Act” at the UK Asian Music Awards.
- the BrandLaureate International Brand Personality Award by the President of The BrandLaureate,
- Sami became the first South Asian to have performed at London’s Wembley Stadium 8 times
- He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor in the field of Arts, by the Government of India.
Adnan Sami has done everything in his career and achieved everything. From performing with legendary Asha Bhosle to receiving the highest award in India.
