Popular music label Universal Music India on Tuesday announced the signing of the prolific Adnan Sami for his brand new studio album.

The album titled `Press Play' is Adnan's first studio album in five years and is currently scheduled for an early January release.

This is also Sami's first album on Universal Music with whom he's signed a worldwide deal.

Fans that have long awaited this new album will be ecstatic on this collection of new material which is a mix of signature Sami ballads and up-tempo humour laced songs.

Commenting on his long awaited album and his signing to Universal Music, Sami said, `I'm very excited that after a long gap of 5 years my new studio album is ready for release. It's been an amazing journey where I was able to revisit my musical roots."

"I'm also extremely enthused about joining Universal Music for the first time who shares my vision & passion for my music. I'm looking forward to a great association with them."

Sami burst onto the Indian music scene in 1999 when he released an album of love songs titled 'Kabhi Toh Nazar Milao'.

The album spawned the massive hits`Life Karadey` and `Kabhi Toh Nazar Milao`and went on to become one of the bestselling non-film albums of all time in India.

His enviable hold on the music scene in India was further strengthened on the release of his second album titled 'Tera Chehra' which turned out to be a phenomenal success as well.

The album broke further records including those that Sami had broken with his first album and went on to become the biggest selling independent album in India and the biggest selling Indian album of all time surpassing even Hindi Film Soundtracks, in the US and Canada.

His singing career then skyrocketed as he became a hugely popular choice for lending his vocals for movies like 'Ajnabee', 'Lucky', 'Awaara Paagal Deewana', 'Shakti', 'Chor Machaay Shor', 'Saathiya', 'Yuva', 'Taare Zameen Par', 'Ishq Hota Naheen' from the Mukta Arts film- 'Jogger's Park' & the super-hit songs 'Salaam-e-Ishq'& 'Noor-e-Khuda' from 'My Name Is Khan' to name a few.

He has also sung in other Indian languages with hit songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Assamese and Bengali.

Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director, UMGI India & SAARC, commented: "An artist like Adnan comes by once in a lifetime & Universal Music is very proud to partner him on his latest album "Press Play". This album will see a marketing mount which is second to none simply because he cuts across so many demographics & psychographics."

"You will see a heady mix of good old classic Adnan ballads that will make you cry, typical Adnan funny which will make you laugh till you can't laugh anymore and a newer bolder mix of songs that are Adnan today! All in all "Press Play" is an extraordinary album that will make the old fans love him even more & open up a brand new fan base to his music."