Adnan Sami

On 25 January 2020, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in the field of Arts, by Government of India.

In April 2017, Sami became the first South Asian to have performed at London's Wembley Stadium 8 times; tickets were sold out on all 8 occasions. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, attended the concert.

He performed a qawwali "Bhar Do Jholi Meri" in the 2015 film Bajrangi Bhaijaan, he appeared in the movie as well.

On 26 May 2015, he submitted a request for Indian citizenship to the Ministry of Home Affairs, when his Pakistani passport expired , he had lived adequate amount of years in India that made him eligible for Indian citizenship hence he naturalised as an Indian citizen. In late December 2015, the Indian Home Ministry approved his request for legal status as a citizen of India, effective as of 1 January 2016.

In 2013, he was given the BrandLaureate International Brand Personality award by the President of The BrandLaureate, Dr KK Johan, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Later in 2013, Sami was given a Special Award by the Canadian Parliament for his 'Exceptional Services to Indian Music'.

In 2011, Sami was given the "Glory of India Award" by the India International Friendship Society. This was the 350th anniversary of the completion of the Taj Mahal, and Sami gave a solo concert performance in front of the Taj Mahal on the final night of the celebrations. After this performance, the Indian media dubbed him the "Sultan of Music".

In 2010, Sami received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Prime Minister of Pakistan at a ceremony by Pakistan Television.

On 29 January 2010 Sami married Roya Sami Khan, the daughter of a retired diplomat and army general. He first met Roya in India during her visit in 2010 and proposed to her after some time. On 10 May 2017, he became a father to a daughter, Medina Sami Khan.

In 2009, his father died of pancreatic cancer, which he described as the "biggest blow" of his life, saying that he had been extremely close to his father.

He hosted the Indian version of the American music game show Don't Forget the Lyrics! called Bol Baby Bol on the Star TV network in 2008. Prior to that in 2005, he was the sole jury for the singing competition program on Channel [V] called Super Singer. In 2011, Adnan returned as a judge on the singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs, which became popular worldwide.

In 2008, his wife Sabah returned to Mumbai, remarried him and began living with him, but the marriage only lasted one year, after which Sabah filed for divorce again.

In 2008, he was presented the "Naushad Music Award" by Andhra Pradesh Department of Culture, in Hyderabad.

In 2008 he also won "Best International Act" at the UK Asian Music Awards.

In 2007, Sami was given a Special Award from the U.K. Parliament (House of Commons) for his 'Outstanding Contribution to Sub-Continental Music'.

In 2006, he took a sabbatical and reportedly lost over 160 kg. He came back in April 2007 with the album Kisi Din. In 2007, he sang the soundtrack "Dil Kya Kare" from the Hindi film Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love and "Noor-e-Khuda" from My Name Is Khan. He was also one of the guest judges on the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007.

In June 2006, he weighed 230 kilograms (506 lb); he claimed his doctor had given him just six months to live. By diet and exercise, he lost 167 kilograms (368 lb) in 16 months.

In 2005, he suffered from lymphoedema and developed an abscess in the knee, which interrupted his career.

Since 2003, he has sung for a few Tamil movies like Boys, Aaytha Ezhuthu composed by A. R. Rahman. The songs, "Boom Boom" from Boys and "Nenjamellam Kadhal" from Aayitha Ezhuthu, were hits. He also sang for the Tamil and Telugu versions besides the Hindi version of songs from the movie Yuva (2004), whose music was also composed by A. R. Rahman. Besides Rahman, he has also worked with composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, and sang the Tamil songs "Oh Intha Kadhal" from Satham Podathey and "OruKal" from Siva Manasula Sakthi. He sang the song "Chanchadi Adi Urang Nee" in the Malayalam movie Makalkku. He has also sung for a Kannada film. His first Kannada song was "Don't Worry Madabeda" for the film Super Star starring Upendra. He has also worked with music composers Devi Sri Prasad and M. M. Keeravani and sang songs in Telugu films Varsham, Chatrapathi, Shankar Dada MBBS and 100% Love.

Sami wrote a song for India during the 2003 Cricket World Cup. The video of this song captures the nationalistic spirit of competition, depicting Adnan performing with the Indian cricket team with guest appearances from Indian film stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Fardeen Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

In the summer of 2003, Sami became the only musical artist from the entire Asian region to have sold out Wembley Stadium in London for two nights in a row; this was recorded in the Limca Book of World Records (Asia's equivalent to the West's Guinness Book of World Records). He did this again in 2005, 2008, and 2012.

Swedish and British radio and television have often referred to him as the fastest keyboard player in the world. Adnan has performed for prestigious music festivals to sold-out stadiums of his solo concert tours all over the world in over forty countries. In summer 2003, he became the only Asian artist to have sold out Wembley Stadium, London, for two consecutive nights, which won him a place in the Limca Book of Records.

In 2002, Pepsi Foods made Sami its brand ambassador in India, a contract which involved hosting a series of live music concerts across cities as well as featuring in ads for Pepsi products. He is the only artist in all of Asia and Europe to have endorsed Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola together.

His second studio album, Tera Chehra, was released in October 2002 to critical acclaim. The music videos for this album were shot by Binod Pradhan, who had shot the popular 2002 Hindi film Devdas. The album features Bollywood stars Rani Mukerji in the title track and Amitabh Bachchan in the track "Kabhi Nahi", who also sang the duet with Sami. Actress Mahima Chaudhry was also seen in another song. The title track was written by well-known Hindi movie lyricist Sameer. According to Screen Magazine, it was the only successful pop album of the year. Sami's Tera Chehra broke sales records by becoming India's best-selling album of 2002 (including film soundtracks), continuing its No. 1 position in 2003, and by becoming the best-selling Indian album of all time (including film soundtracks) in the U.S. and Canada. The album stayed in the No. 1 position in all the music charts of India from the time of its release in September 2002 for over a year, beating his debut album's No. 1 record.

Saathiya (2002) brought him the opportunity to work with A. R. Rahman in the form of "Aye Udi Udi". According to Screen Magazine, the song was "the highlight of the album". Rediff.com called him the "Reigning King of Indipop" in early 2003 based on the sales of his albums in the previous two years.

On 15 December 2002, BBC World Service celebrated 70 years of broadcasting by organizing a worldwide live concert with artists representing different parts of the world who performed before a global audience via satellite. Sami was chosen to represent India.

The song "Tu Sirf Mera Mehboob" from the Hindi film Ajnabee, sung by Adnan, became popular and was declared a "superhit" by Screen Magazine, who called him the pop personality of the year in 2001.

Sami began living in India since 13 March 2001, on a visitor's visa which was extended from time to time.

In 2001, Sami married Dubai-based Arab Sabah Galadari. This was his second marriage and Sabah's second marriage as well; she had a son from her previous marriage. This relationship also ended in divorce, a year-and-a-half later.

In 2001, he was awarded the Breakthrough Artist of the Year by MTV.

In 2000, Asha Bhosle collaborated with Sami on a collection of love songs named Kabhi to Nazar Milao in India. The music was also composed by Adnan. The album became an instant success and topped the Indipop charts for most of 2001 and 2002. According to Business Week magazine, the album sold 4 million copies in India alone.

Badaltay Mausam (1997) was re-released in India as Kabhi To Nazar Milao (2000).

In 1994, he composed music for a film for the first time. The 1995 Pakistani film Sargam, in which he was the lead actor and Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle did the playback Sargam, was a box office success. It was also the first time that an Indian playback singer was featured in an album in Pakistan. To date Sargam is the only film Sami has acted in, and the score is the best-selling album of all time in Pakistan.

Sami was first married to actress Zeba Bakhtiar in 1993, with whom he had a son named Azaan Sami Khan. They divorced after three years.

His first formal album, The One & Only (1989), was a classical album on the piano accompanied by tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. He released his first vocal solo album Raag Time in 1991. The song from his album Teri Yaad was the title track of his first album, which became a huge hit in Pakistan.

His first single, "Run for His Life", was released in 1986. It was in English, and recorded for UNICEF. It went to No. 1 in the music charts in the Middle East. This was followed by three more No. 1s: "Talk to Me", "Hot Summer Day" and "You're My Best Kept Secret".

Adnan Sami Khan (born 15 August 1971) is a Pakistani-Indian singer, musician, music composer, and pianist. He performs Indian and Western music, including for Hindi movies. His most notable instrument is the piano. He has been credited as "the first musician to have played the santoor & Indian classical music on the piano". A review in the US-based Keyboard magazine described him as the fastest keyboard player in the world and called him the keyboard discovery of the nineties. In 2016 he became an Indian citizen. He was awarded the Padma Shri on 26 January 2020.

Adnan Sami was born in 1971 in Lahore. He was raised and educated in the United Kingdom partially. His father, Arshad Sami Khan, was a Pashtun while his mother Naureen Khan was from Jammu. Adnan's father served as a Pakistan Air Force pilot, before becoming a senior bureaucrat and serving as Pakistan's ambassador to 14 countries. His paternal great-grandfather, General Ahmed Jan, was from Afghanistan and a military advisor to king Abdur Rahman Khan. His paternal grandfather Agha Mehfooz Jan was the governor of four Afghan provinces under King Amanullah Khan's reign and was also the King's first cousin. He was assassinated by Habibullah Kalakani and therefore his father's family migrated to Peshawar, then in British India.

He has composed film music for several other Hindi films, including Lucky: No Time for Love, Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke, Dhamaal, 1920, Chance Pe Dance, Mumbai Salsa, Khubsoorat, Sadiyaan, Shaurya and several others.