Yusuf Islam,title=Interview With Yusuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens, Larry King Live (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on 21 July 1948), best known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is a British musician of Greek Cypriot and Swedish ancestry. He is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist and prominent convert to Islam.
As Cat Stevens, he sold over 60 million albums around the world since the late 1960s
. His albums Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat were both certified as Triple Platinum by the RIAA in the United States (three million sales each); his album Catch Bull at Four sold half a million copies in the first two weeks of release alone, and was ''Billboard's number-one LP for three consecutive weeks. His songwriting has also earned him two ASCAP songwriting awards for "The First Cut Is the Deepest," which has been a hit single for five different artists, and has been instrumental for others in establishing their musical careers.
Stevens converted to Islam at the height of his fame in 1977. The following year, he adopted his Muslim name Yusuf Islam, sold all his instruments and awards for charity, William Ruhlmann Biography, AOL and left his music career to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community.
He has been given several awards for his work in promoting peace in the world, including 2003's World Award, the 2004 Man for Peace award, and the 2007 Mediterranean Prize for Peace. In 2006, he returned to pop music, with his first album of new pop songs in 28 years, entitled An Other Cup.
He lives with his wife and children in London. Yusuf Islam spends part of each year in Dubai.
Early life (1948–1965)
Cat Stevens Alt Steven Georgiou was the third child of a Greek-Cypriot father (Stavros Georgiou) and a Swedish mother (Ingrid Wickman). The family lived above Moulin Rouge, the restaurant that his parents operated on Shaftesbury Avenue, a few steps from Piccadilly Circus in the Soho area of London. His whole family worked in the restaurant.
Although his father was Greek Orthodox and his mother a Swedish Baptist, Stevens was sent to a Catholic school, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Primary School in Macklin Street, which was closer to his father's business on Drury Lane in Soho. Though Stevens' parents divorced when he was about 8 years old, they continued to maintain and live above the family restaurant. Stevens developed an interest in piano at a young age. At age 12, he extended this interest to songwriting and playing guitar. A few years later, Stevens and his mother returned to Gävle, Sweden, where he started developing his drawing skills after being influenced by his uncle Hugo, a painter.
At age 16, he left school and was accepted by, then later dismissed from, Hammersmith Art School. Although he enjoyed art — his later record albums would feature his original artwork on the covers — Stevens wanted to establish a musical career. It was during this period he was first influenced by folk music.
Musical career (1966–1970)
Early musical career
He began to perform his songs in coffee houses and pubs. He adopted the stage name Cat Stevens, in part, because a girlfriend said he had eyes like a cat, but mainly because he said, "I couldn't imagine anyone going to the record store and asking for that Stephen Demetre Georgiou album. And in England, and I was sure in America, they loved animals." Amy Reiter Salon People: Cat Stevens", August 14, 1999. In 1966, at age 18, he impressed manager/producer Mike Hurst, formerly of British vocal group The Springfields, with his songs and Hurst arranged for him to record a demo and then helped him get a record deal. The first singles, "I Love My Dog" and "Matthew and Son" (the title song from his debut album, released in the beginning of 1967) and I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" reached Britain's Top 10, and the album Matthew and Son itself began charting. The original version of the Tremeloes cover hit "Here Comes My Baby", and another audience pleaser, "Granny" was recorded at this time.
Over the next two years, Stevens recorded and toured with artists ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Engelbert Humperdinck. Stevens was considered a fresh-faced teen star, placing several single releases in the British pop music charts. Some of that success was attributed to the pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London, which played his records. In August 1967, he went on the air with other recording artists who had benefited from the station to mourn its closure.
His December 1967 album New Masters failed to chart in the United Kingdom. The album is now most notable for his song "The First Cut Is the Deepest", a song he sold for £30 to P.P. Arnold that was to become a massive hit for her,title=Profile: Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens: Not so much a zealot more a lost musician and an international hit, for Keith Hampshire, Rod Stewart, James Morrison, and Sheryl Crow, and has won several song-writing awards, including two ASCAP songwriting awards- back to back in both 2005 and 2006.Songwriter of the Year, Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), First Cut Is The Deepest - ASCAP Awards Honoring Members of the PRS
Tuberculosis
Stevens was living a fast-moving pop-star life and in early 1968 at the age of 19, he became very ill with tuberculosis, and a collapsed lung. During several months in the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst and a year of convalescence, Stevens began to question aspects of his life, took up meditation, read about other religions and became a vegetarian. During his recovery, he his newly found concern over what might happen to him if he should die arose for the first time. Later, in several interviews he has made reference to the same focus: "Ever since I remember I was searching for the meaning to life." During that time, as part of his spiritual awakening and questioning, he wrote as many as 40 songs, which were much more introspective than his previous work. Many of those songs were to appear on his albums in years to come. Phillips, Mark Originally aired on December 3, 2006 CBS Sunday Morning, Yusuf Islam Reflects On His Return; Artist Once Known As Cat Stevens Talks About New Album Retrieved [[August 12], 2007
Comeback after illness
Changes in musical sound
Stevens' failure with his second album to chart, was ultimately a difference of personal tastes in musical direction, and a growing resentment at producer Hurst's attempts to re-create another album like Stevens' debut album, with heavy handed orchestration, and over-production, rather than the folk sound Stevens was attempting to foster. He admits to having created sabotage on his own contract with Mike Hurst, making outlandishly expensive orchestrial demands, and threatening legal action, which resulted in his goal; being released from his contract with Deram Records. Yusuflifeline Official Yusuf Islam Site Instead, he picked Barry Krost who arranged for an audition with Chris Blackwell of Island Records who helped choose bassist Paul Samwell-Smith from the Yardbirds as his new producer.
Stevens found himself romantically linked to a few others. Most notably, he and Carly Simon, who shared the same recording producer, had a love affair in 1971-1972, during which both wrote hit songs for and about one another. Simon, a popular singer in her own right, had at least two top 50 songs, "Legend in Your Own Time" and "Anticipation" that were written about Stevens. Not to be outdone, she found reciprocation in his song to her, after their romance, entitled, "Sweet Scarlet".
Harold and Maude and other movie soundtracks
In 1971, Stevens donated nine of his songs which were used in the soundtrack to the film Harold and Maude, including two songs, "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out", which did not feature on any album prior to their inclusion on a second "greatest hits" collection, Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits Vol. 2., nineteen years later. Harold and Maude, a funny, poignant film which sometimes used black comedy, starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort, became a popular cult movie celebrating the free spirit, and brought Stevens' music to a wider audience, long after he stopped recording. Other songs included were "Where Do The Children Play", "Trouble", and "I Think I See the Light".
Another song written by Stevens was recorded for the Jerzy Skolimowski film Deep End; "But I Might Die Tonight". The film featured Jane Asher and Diana Dors.Official Yusuf Islam Site It shows Stevens' state of mind after such a close call with tuberculosis, and somewhat echoes some of his sentiments from his hit song, "Father and Son".
Stevens again gave permission to use a song, The Wind in a 2002 film directed by Cameron Crowe: Almost Famous, a comedy starring Patrick Fugit and Philip Seymour Hoffman about a young man writing for Creem Magazine and Rolling Stone Magazine Olsen, Mark Movie Soundtrack for Almost Famous
More commercial success
Having established a signature sound, Stevens enjoyed a string of successes over the following years. 1971's Teaser and the Firecat reached number two and achieved gold record status within three weeks of its release in the United States. It yielded several hits, including "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken" (a Christian hymn with lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon), and "Moon Shadow". This album was also certified by the RIAA as a Multi-Platinum record in 2001, with over three million U.S. sales up until then. When interviewed on a Boston radio station, Stevens said about Teaser:
quote "I get the tune and then I just keep on singing the tune until the words come out from the tune. It's kind of a hypnotic state that you reach after a while when you keep on playing it where words just evolve from it. So you take those words and just let them go whichever way they want... 'Moonshadow'? Funny, that was in Spain, I went there alone, completely alone, to get away from a few things. And I was dancin' on the rocks there... right on the rocks where the waves were, like, blowin' and splashin'. Really, it was so fantastic. And the moon was bright, ya know, and I started dancin' and singin' and I sang that song and it stayed. It's just the kind of moment that you want to find when you're writin' songs."
His next album, Catch Bull at Four, released in 1972, was his most rapidly successful album in the U.S.A., reaching Gold record status in 15 days, and holding the number-one position on the Billboard charts for three weeks. This album continued the introspective and spiritual lyrics that he was known for, combined with a rougher-edged voice and a less acoustic sound than his previous records. The single "Sitting" was released from this album, and charted at #16. Catch Bull at Four was Platinum certified in 2001.
Subsequent releases in the 1970s also did well on the charts and in ongoing sales. His final album under the name Cat Stevens was Back to Earth, released in late 1978. Several compilation albums were released before and after he stopped recording. The most successful was the 1975 Greatest Hits which has sold over 4 million copies in the United States. In May 2003 he received his first Platinum Europe Award from the IFPI for Remember Cat Stevens, The Ultimate Collection, indicating over one million European sales.
In 1977, Stevens secured his last chart hit with "(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard", a duet billed with fellow UK singer Elkie Brooks, although she remains uncredited on the release, and another woman appears on the video that was made of the song, with Cat Stevens singing to her; as she plays a once-upon-a-time schoolmate, as they were singing to each other on a schoolyard "merry-go-round"; one of few videos that Stevens made aside from simple videos of concert performances.
His last performance before his surprising return to music a quarter of a century later was at The Year of the Child concert in Wembley Stadium, on November 22, 1979.
Conversion to Islamic faith
In 1976 Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu, California and shouted: “Oh God! If you save me I will work for you.” The near-death experience intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into "Buddhism, Zen, and I Ching, Numerology, tarot cards and Astrology", Amy Reiter Salon People: Cat Stevens", August 14, 1999. but when his brother David gave him a copy of the Qur'an, Stevens began to find peace with himself and began his transition to Islam.
He formally converted to the Islamic faith in 1977, and took the name Yusuf Islam in 1978. he stated that he "always loved the name Joseph" and was particularly drawn to the story of Joseph in the Qur'an.
During the time he was studying the Qu'ran, he began to identify more and more with the name of Joseph, a man born and sold in the market place, which is how he had increasingly felt, within the music business. In his 2006 interview with Alan Yentob, he stated, "to some people, it may have seemed like an enormous jump, but for me, it was a gradual move to this."
Yusuf married Fauzia Mubarak Ali in September 1979, at Regent's Park Mosque in London. It was the 1000th such ceremony to take place at the mosque. The couple have five living children.
Life as Yusuf Islam (1978–present)
Muslim faith and musical career
Following his conversion, Yusuf Islam abandoned his career as a pop star. The use of musical instruments other than the voice and the drum is an area of debate in Muslim jurisprudence, considered haram by some, and this is the primary reason he gave for retreating from the pop spotlight. In his first performance on the television show, Later... with Jools Holland, 27 years after leaving the "pop" music business, and in other interviews, he gave other reasons for leaving the pop stage. "A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing," Islam said. "You come to a point where you have sung, more or less ... your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living. You know, up until that point, I hadn't had a life. I'd been searching, been on the road."
Estimating in January 2007 that he continues to earn approximately $1.5 million USD a year from his Cat Stevens music, he decided to use his accumulated wealth and continuing earnings from his music career on philanthropic and educational causes in the Muslim community of London and elsewhere. In 1981, he founded the Islamia Primary School in Salusbury Road in the north London area of Kilburn and soon after, founded several Muslim secondary schools and devoted his energy to providing an Islamic education to children and to donate the rest to charitable causes. He established, and is the founder and chairman of the Small Kindness charity, which initially assisted famine victims in Africa and now supports thousands of orphans and families in the Balkans, Indonesia, and Iraq. He served as chairman of the charity Muslim Aid from 1985 to 1993.
In 1985, Yusuf Islam decided to return to the public spotlight for the first time since his religious conversion, at the historic Live Aid concert, concerned with the famine threatening Ethiopia. Though he had written a song especially for the occasion, his appearance was skipped when Elton John's set ran too long.
Salman Rushdie controversy
The singer attracted controversy in 1989, during an address to students at London's Kingston University, where he was asked about the fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie. Newspapers quickly interpreted his response as support for the fatwa, but he released a statement the following day clarifying that he had not been supporting vigilantism, and was merely explaining the legal Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In a BBC interview he displayed a newspaper clipping from that time period, which quotes from his statement. Subsequent comments made by him in 1989 were also seen as being in support of the fatwa.
Immediately following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, he said:
I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment.
He appeared on videotape on a VH-1 pre-show for the October 2001 Concert for New York City, condemning the attacks and singing his song "Peace Train" for the first time in public in more than 20 years, an a cappella version. He also donated half of his box-set royalties to the September 11 Fund for victims' families, and the other half to orphans in underdeveloped countries.
Denial of entry into the United States
On 21 September 2004, Yusuf Islam was travelling on a United Airlines flight from London to Washington, en route to a meeting with singer Dolly Parton, who had recorded "Peace Train" several years earlier and was planning to include another Cat Stevens song on an upcoming album. While the plane was in flight, the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System flagged his name as being on a no-fly list. Customs agents alerted the Transportation Security Administration, which then diverted his flight to Bangor, Maine, where he was detained by the FBI. title=Cat Stevens held after D.C. flight diverted
The following day, Yusuf Islam was deported back to the United Kingdom. The United States Transportation Security Administration claimed there were "concerns of ties he may have to potential terrorist-related activities." title=Cat Stevens leaves U.S. after entry denied The Israeli government deported Yusuf Islam in 2000 over allegations that he provided funding to the Palestinian organization Hamas. This gave the United States Department of Homeland Security enough concern to add him to their FBI watch list.title=Yusuf's return to musical roots
The U.S. deportation provoked a small international controversy, and led British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to complain personally to Secretary of State Colin Powell at the United Nations. Powell responded by stating that the watch list was under review, and added, "I think we have that obligation to review these matters to see if we are right." title=Powell orders review
Yusuf Islam believes his inclusion on the watch list may have simply been an error, a mistaken identification of him for a man with the same name, but different spelling. On 1 October 2004 Yusuf Islam requested the removal of his name, "I reTwo years later, in December 2006, Yusuf Islam was admitted without incident into the United States for several radio concert performances and interviews to promote his new record. title=Yusuf Islam Steps Back Into Cat Stevens's Old Sound Islam says of the incident at the time, that, "No reason was ever given, but being asked to repeat the spelling of my name again and again, made me think it was a fairly simple mistake of identity. Rumors which circulated after made me imagine otherwise."Official Website, Chinese Whiskers FAQS
Islam has written a song about the 2004 deportation experience, titled "Boots and Sand", recorded in the summer of 2008, featuring Sir Paul McCartney, Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, and Terry Sylvester.Yusuf Islam 2008 official websiteAugust 2008 news
Libel cases
British reports regarding deportation
In October 2004 the British newspapers The Sun and The Sunday Times voiced their support for Yusuf Islam's deportation by the U.S. government, claiming that he had supported terrorism. Yusuf Islam sued for libel and received a substantial out-of-court "agreed settlement" and apologies from the newspapers. Islam stated that, "both newspapers have now acknowledged that he is not, and never has been, involved in or supported terrorism, and that he abhors all such activities". Both newspapers acknowledged that Yusuf Islam has never supported terrorism and that, to the contrary, he had recently been given a Man of Peace award from the private Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Committee. The Sun spokeswoman Janet Anderson said Mr Islam's statement was correct but The Sunday Times managing editor Richard Caseby said there had been an "agreed settlement", however they always denied liability, stating that they were taking a "pragmatic" approach to the lawsuit. title=Singer Islam gets libel damages
Yusuf Islam responded that he was "...delighted by the settlement [1] helps vindicate my character and good name.... It seems to be the easiest thing in the world these days to make scurrilous accusations against Muslims, and in my case it directly impacts on my relief work and damages my reputation as an artist. The harm done is often difficult to repair", and added that he intended to donate the financial award given to him by the court to help orphans of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Yusuf Islam wrote about the experience in a newspaper article titled "A Cat in a Wild World".
False rumour regarding veiled women
On July 18, 2008, Yusuf Islam received substantial undisclosed damages from the World Entertainment News Network following their distribution of the false rumour that the singer did not speak to unveiled women. The allegations first surfaced in German newspaper B.Z. after Yusuf's trip to Berlin in March 2007 to collect the ECHO award for "life achievements as musician and ambassador between cultures". Once again he was awarded damages after the WENN allowed an article to be published on Contactmusic.com, a "website said to have 2.2 million page views a month", alleging that Islam would not speak to unveiled women with the exception of his wife. His solicitor was reported as having said, that "he was made out to be 'so sexist and bigoted that he refused at an awards ceremony to speak to or even acknowledge any women who were not wearing a veil,'". The offending news agency apologized, admitting that Islam has never had any problem in working with women and, contrary to the article in question, never has needed a third party as an intermediary to function at work. The money from this lawsuit will go to Islam's Small Kindness Charity. title=Yousuf Islam beats claims he is a 'sexist Muslim' Agency brands Islam a bigot who refuses to speak to women In fact, his manager has added that currently, Yusuf Islam currently is working more frequently with women on his newest musical efforts than he is with men, simply because currently many of the positions of those he must confer with are filled by women, from Atlantic records, to Polydor records, video planning and even some of the stage set arrangements. Marot, Mark 2006 ASCAP Press release
Islam himself discusses this topic on his website, saying, "It’s true that I have asked my manager to respectfully request lady presenters from embracing me when giving awards or during public appearances, but that has nothing to do with my feelings or respect for them. Islam simply requires me to honour the dignity of ladies or young girls who are not closely related to me, and avoid physical intimacy, however innocent it may be." He adds, "My four daughters all follow the basic wearing of clothes which modestly cover their God-given beauty. They’re extremely well educated; they do not cover their faces and interact perfectly well with friends and society.." Islam, Yusuf Official Website, Chinese Whiskers FAQS
Return to music
By the early 1990s, for several years, Yusuf Islam only made recordings featuring lyrics about Islamic themes accompanied solely by drums and percussive instruments, which he felt were acceptable to his faith. In the late 1990s, he was featured as a guest singer on "God Is the Light", a song on an album of nasheeds by the group Raihan. In addition, he invited and collaborated with other Muslim singers, including Canadian artist Dawud Wharnsby Ali, in his private Mountain of Light Studio.
After realizing there were few materials designed to educate children about Islam, Yusuf wrote and produced a children's album in 2000; A Is for Allah,last=Nolen with the assistance of Zain Bhikha from South Africa, featuring the title song Islam had written to introduce his first child to both Islam and the Arabic alphabet, "A is for Allah", when she was a baby. He also established his own record label, "Jamal Records", and Mountain of Light Productions, which donates a percentage of its proceeds to his Small Kindness charity. The phrase comes directly from the Qu'ran, where charity is compulsory, called Zakah and is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.Qu'ran, Surah 107 Al-Ma’oon (The small kindness)
On the occasion of the 2000 re-release of his Cat Stevens albums, Yusuf explained that he had stopped performing in English due to his misunderstanding of the Islamic faith. "This issue of music in Islam is not as cut-and-dried as I was led to believe ... I relied on heresy (sic), that was perhaps my mistake."
He also spoke about feeling that when he left the Western pop music business, that perhaps the cut between his former life and his life as a Muslim might have been too quick, too severe, and that more people might have been better informed about Islam, and given an opportunity to understand it, and himself, better if he had simply removed those items that were considered haram, in his performances, allowing him to express himself musically and educate listeners through his music without violating any religious constraints.title=NEW Yusuf ISlam Interview And A Is For Allah Peace Train Cat STevens
In 2003, after repeated encouragement from within some sectors of the Muslim world, Yusuf Islam once again recorded "Peace Train" for a compilation CD, which also included performances by David Bowie and Sir Paul McCartney. He performed "Wild World" in Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert with his former session player Peter Gabriel, the first time he had publicly performed in English in 25 years. In December 2004, he and Ronan Keating released a new version of "Father and Son" that debuted at number two, behind Band Aid 20's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The proceeds of "Father and Son" were donated to the Band Aid charity. Keating's former group, Boyzone, had a hit with the song a decade earlier. As he had been persuaded before, Islam contributed to the song, because the proceeds were marked for charity. However, this marked a point in his artistic career where he now entertained the concept of using more than simply voice and drums. In 2008 Yusuf Islam contributed the song "Edge of Existence" to the Survival International charity album Songs for Survival.
On April 21, 2005 Yusuf Islam gave a short talk before a scheduled musical performance in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. He said, "There is a great deal of ignorance in the world about Islam today, and we hope to communicate with the help of something more refined than lectures and talks. Our recordings are particularly appealing to the young, having used songs as well as Holy Qu'ran verses with pleasing sound effects..."New Recordings by Yusuf Islam Islam explained that while there had been no real guidelines about instruments in the Qu'ran, and no reference about the business of music, he stated that it had been Muslim travellers who first brought the guitar to Moorish Spain. He noted that the Prophet Muhammad was fond of celebrations, as in the case of the birth of a child, or a traveler arriving after a long journey. Thus, Islam concluded, that he felt that healthy entertainment was acceptable within limitations, and that he now felt that it was no sin to perform with the guitar. Music, he now felt, is uplifting to the soul; something sorely needed in these troubled times. title=Yusuf Islam in Abu Dhabi At that point, he was joined by several young male singers who sang backing vocals and played drum, with Islam as lead singer and guitarist. They performed two songs, "Tala'a Al-Badru Alayna", an old song in Arabic which Yusuf Islam has recorded with a folk sound to it; half of the song is in Arabic, while the other half is in English, and "The Wind East and West", a new song with a distinct R&B sound.
With that performance, he began slowly to integrate instruments into both older material from his "Cat Stevens" era, (some with slight lyrical changes), and new songs, both those known to the Muslim communities around the world, and some that have the same Western flair from before with a focus on new topics and another generation of listeners.title=NEW Yusuf Islam Interview And A Is For Allah Peace Train Cat STevens In a 2005 press release, he explains his revived recording career:
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