Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; 21 July 1948), commonly known by his stage name Cat Stevens, and later Yusuf, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of Greek-Cypriot and Swedish descent. His 1967 debut album reached the top 10 in the UK, and its title song "Matthew and Son" reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. Stevens' albums Tea for the Tillerman (1970) and Teaser and the Firecat (1971) were certified triple platinum in the US by the RIAA. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, in his later career, Islamic music.

In December 1977, Stevens converted to Islam and adopted the name Yusuf Islam the following year. In 1979, he auctioned all of his guitars for charity and left his musical career to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. He was embroiled in a long-running controversy regarding comments he made in 1989 about the death fatwa on author Salman Rushdie. He has received two honorary doctorates and awards for promoting peace from two organisations founded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 2006, he returned to pop music – releasing his first new studio album of new pop songs in 28 years, titled An Other Cup. With that release and subsequent ones, he dropped the surname "Islam" from the album cover art – using the stage name Yusuf as a mononym. In 2009, he released the album Roadsinger, and in 2014, he released the album Tell 'Em I'm Gone, and began his first US tour since 1978. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. His second North American tour since his resurgence, featuring 12 shows in intimate venues, ran from 12 September to 7 October 2016. In 2017, he released the album The Laughing Apple.

Links to Peel
Peel was initially keen of Cat Stevens work, who did a session for Top Gear in December 1967. JP also listed Cat Stevens as one of the ABC Of Beauty in the 2nd November 1968 edition of Disc & Music Echo, where he listed British "underground" artists both famous and obscure who caught his attention at the time.

By the time of the mid 70's, Peel seemed to have lost interest in the singer. When reviewing his latest single, Two Fine People, as part of Singles Reviews in Sounds, published on 12th July 1975, Peel wondered why Stevens had a large and adoring following, whilst his recent records tend to wordiness and lumbering tunes:

"'I wonder does Cat Stevens command such a large and adoring following? His records certainly sell, yet seem to have little to offer the listener. I defy anyone to sing me one of Cat's more recent songs - they tend to wordiness and lumbering 'tunes' which easily evade the memory.'"

By the end of the 70's Cat Stevens stopped producing new music, and his material never got any airplay on Peel's shows. It was only until 2006 that Cat Stevens returned to music.

Sessions
1. Recorded: 1967-12-08. Broadcast: 17 December 1967
 * I Love Them All / Kitty / Sun's In The Sky / I'm Gonna Be King / Blackness Of The Night

Other Shows Played

 * Cat Stevens - Kitty.wmv
 * 19 November 1967: Kitty (LP - New Masters) Deram
 * 1970
 * 21 November 1970: Longer Boats (LP - Tea For The Tillerman) Island