Biography
Sami Yusuf is a British composer, singer and accomplished musician. He was born in July 1980 into a musical family of Azeri origin in Tehran, Iran, learning to play several instruments at a very young age and demonstrating a keen interest in singing and composing. He studied music at several institutions and with renowned composers and musicians, including composers from the Royal Academy of Music in London, one of the world most prestigious music institutions. In addition to his education in Western harmonics and composition, Sami has a solid understanding of the Middle Eastern modes (or Maqams), and is thoroughly acquainted and familiar with both Eastern and Western musical traditions.
Since 2003, Sami’s debut album 'al-Mu'allim' and his second album 'My Ummah' have sold over five million copies worldwide (with a third album nearing completion). His YouTube videos have been played over 10 million times and his websites have been accessed by his many millions of ardent supporters. His concerts have attracted huge audiences across the Middle East, Europe and the United States, including a staggering 250,000 attendance in Istanbul. Sami has been featured by Time Magazine and has appeared on the covers of dozens of other mainstream publications around the world.
Sami is devoutly spiritual and often uses his art and music as a means of promoting the messages of love, mercy, peace and tolerance, whilst encouraging the youth to be proud of their identity.
His Career
Sami has been featured by Time Magazine as "Islam's biggest rock star"and has appeared on the covers of dozens of other mainstream publications around the world. Sami is devoutly spiritual and often uses his art and music as a means of promoting the messages of love, mercy, peace and tolerance, whilst encouraging the youth to be proud of their identity. Sami Yusuf’s songs have revolutionalized the nasheed industry and have given birth to a new genre of modern Islamic music.His latest song You Came To Me has been released as an immense hit all over the world. It has had more than 1,000,000 views on Youtube.
2003-2009: First albums with awakening
Sami's first album Al-Mu'allim was self-produced and released in July 2003 and attained huge success. His second album, My Ummah, which was released in 2005, comes in two versions, a musical version and one with just percussion. He creates many of his songs in different languages mainly in English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu. He has held concerts all around the world, and is albums were mainly popular among young Muslims, in particular Turkey, where his concert gathered up to 250,000 people, at Istanbul in 2007.
Disputed third album and departure from awakening
A third album, Without You, was planned for release during mid-2008 but was delayed due to a contractual dispute.An album by that name was then launched by Awakening Records in January 2009. Sami Yusuf subsequently stated on his official website that this album was released without his knowledge or consent, and is a compilation of demos and sketches with a quality inferior to his normally high standards. He has called for fans to boycott it. However as of April 2009 Awakening Records continues to feature the album prominently on the Sami Yusuf part of its website, saying that the album is "a complete and high quality album" consisting of "11 professionally recorded tracks".Awakening says it has already made "substantial" payments to Yusuf for his third album, which has been advertised on its website since May 2008. Yusuf had previously released two albums with Awakening, and signed for a total of five. Asked whether Awakening had paid him in full in July 2009, Yusuf indicated they had not.
2009 - present: ETM International
Following the dispute with awakening Sami moved to the ETM International record company.
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