Celebrity Anniversary July 21, 2018: Yusuf Islam

London (AP) – Cat Stevens is back. With his album "The Laughing Apple" (2017), he joined his previous work, though innocent, with thick brushstrokes and primary colors, as he describes in a "TED Conversation": "Be present in the world, smile, Do not worry! "

Today, Saturday, July 21, the eternal seeker celebrates his 70th birthday [19659004] He grew up under the name of Steven Georgiou at his parents' restaurant in the West End of London, with a Greek Cypriot father and a Swedish mother: "I was raised religiously and I often went to school. 39; church. "

The Beatles inspired the teenager to learn guitar and his first song to write: "Mighty Peace". He later told The Telegraph, "This song embodies my entire catalog, it's all that I've written, my goals in life are all there, and your goals do not really change, just like your soul."

The song "Matthew and Son" from his eponymous debut album made him in 1967 as Cat Stevens Popidol the teenager. The song "The first cut is the deepest" later became a cover version of the worldwide hit. But exhausted, he became so severely infected with tuberculosis that he had to spend a year discovering his spirituality.

Folk replaced pop and made it known in the 70s around the world as a soulful and happy singer and songwriter, though somewhat wild. among other things for the soundtrack of the black cult comedy "Harold and Maude". From his quest for the meaning of life, he created ointments such as "Tea for the Tillerman", followed by hit songs such as "Peace Train" and "Moonshadow".

But at the height of his glory, he returned to music and his "sin." and Greed "and retired for 25 years." Trigger was a deadly experience – he almost drowned in the Pacific at Malibu. "The moment life would go away!", he recalls in a "Conversation TED "." I lost control, I had no power – and then I found God. "His brother gave him the Quran to read six months later, in 1977 he got himself converts to Islam and Cat Stevens became Yusuf Islam.

The singer gave royalties to Muslim charities for all songs that no longer corresponded to his new beliefs 40 percent of his work. Telegraph "that there would still be a few that he would not play today:" Bring another bottle "would probably make one!" And his hit "Lady D Arbanville "about an ex-girlfriend -" out of respect for my wife ".

For a few years, he completely abandoned music and mainly defended Muslim education and the Islamic faith. With a beard, in traditional costume, without humor and with controversial statements about the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, he scared a lot of his fans. Today, he insists that he has long followed a spiritual path with his first songs before discovering the Qur'an: "If I really wanted to say what I wrote, it meant taking what I found – otherwise I would be a hypocrite "

Later, he started writing religious and educational music for children again, but did not play guitar for 20 years. It was only when his son secretly introduced an instrument into the house that he changed: "One morning, a few years ago, his guitar was dragging and it was difficult for me to Ignore, "he told the music magazine" NME ". picked up, found myself remembering chords, and started singing a few words that I had written. It was as if I had opened a lock. "

His gradual return to the world of materialistic music began, in 2003 he recorded a new version of" Peace Train ", and in 2006 he released" An Other Cup ", the first of the genre Series of four albums The last appeared in 2017 – "The Laughing Apple" – and for the first time since 1978, Cat Stevens on the cover – next to Yusuf: "The world has changed, so I changed," he said. says the "Telegraph". "But my center was always the same, in search of peace."