Singer Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens turns 70 | DOMRADIO.DE



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With "Father and Son", the Swedish-Cypriot Briton gets one of the many world successes. A traumatic event converted Stevens to Islam a few years later. A Key Decision

Young Harold's passion is to organize suicides until he meets Maude and learns to love – at a funeral. Maude, the almost 80-year-old lady who likes to have fun, teaches the young man to dance in the black comedy "Harold and Maude" – to the sound of "If you want to sing, sing" by Cat Stevens. On July 21, the British musician of Cypriot-Swedish descent, who calls himself Yusuf Islam since his conversion to Islam, celebrates his 70th birthday.

Steven Demetre Georgiou, his first name, became the son of a Greek Cypriot and restaurateur in 1948 and a Swede born in London. At first, he played in pubs and cafes. However, since his name seemed far too complicated for a great musical career, he called himself "Steve Adams" first and later at the suggestion of a girlfriend and because of his eyes in Cat shape "Cat Stevens."

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He simply could not have imagined that someone in a record store would ask questions about Steven Demetre Georgiou's album, he said. Mid-60, he received his first registration contract. His songs "Matthew & Son" and "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" have entered the top 10 charts in no time. Stevens made his first rounds, including with Jimi Hendrix. A severe tuberculous disease in 1968, however, required him to stay in bed for months, during which time he not only composed dozens of songs, but also tackled religious and religious issues

. the Tillerman. "You'll find songs like" Father and Son "and" Where Kids Play. "However, his career remains initially variable: very successful songs like" Morning has broken "and sold-out concerts follow years. rather lean.

"The Qur'an has explained a lot"

1975 year of change of life for the young singer He nearly drowned in a swimming trip to the United States This fatal experience combined with the study of the Qur'an led him to convert to Islam, to abandon his former name Cat Stevens and to call himself Yusuf Islam. "The Qur'an m? explained a lot, "he said later in an interview

.In 1979, Islam married Fauzia Mubarak Ali, a Nigerian-born, with whom he now has six children and lives in England and Dubai, meanwhile he turned away from music and his career and put the guitar, a Western instrument, in the closet for years. It was only in the mid-90s that he dared a fresh start as Yusuf Islam with Arabic songs. However, this was not marked by the success of his early years.

Duette version "Father and Son" with Ronan Keating in the charts

In 2004 he found a duet version of his song "Father and Son" with Ronan Keating the way back in the charts. In the years that followed, he gave charity concerts and participated in many non-governmental organizations. Other tours and albums, most recently "The Laughing Apple" last year, followed, in which he now uses his two stage names Yusuf Islam and Cat Stevens tied

with his religious attitude "between radicals and moderates" on. So he joined a controversial protest against the writer Salman Rushdie and his book "The Satanic Worms" and said in the late '90s in interviews that he does not shake hands with women and rejects homosexuality because it is a sin.

He explained a few years later that he sees himself as a kind of mediator between religious worlds and dreams of changing the image of Islam. He wants a "reconciliation and a peaceful and respectful coexistence of religions". Unfortunately, the image of Islam in the Western world is often "prejudiced, characterized by political conflicts and militant extremists, but also by a lack of knowledge." Justice and equality are part of God's recipe for human happiness

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