Cat Stevens becomes Yusuf Islam

[Sureshlasi]

Cat Stevens (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on July 21, 1948), now known as Yusuf Islam, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and a prominent convert to Islam.

At the outset of his musical career, Islam adopted the stage name Cat Stevens. As Cat Stevens, he sold over sixty million albums, mostly in the 1970s. His most notable songs include "Morning Has Broken", "Peace Train", "Moonshadow", "Wild World", "Father and Son", "Matthew and Son", "The First Cut Is the Deepest", and "Oh Very Young".

Stevens became a convert to Islam in 1977 after a near-death experience. He adopted the name Yusuf Islam in 1979 and became an outspoken advocate for the religion. A decade later, controversy arose when he was reported to have made comments supporting a fatwa calling for the murder of author Salman Rushdie, and in 2004 returned to the public eye when he was denied entry into the United States after his name appeared on a no-fly list.[1]

Yusuf Islam currently lives with his wife and children in London, where he is an active member of the Muslim community. He founded 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.[2] Islam also founded the charity Muslim Aid but left as founding Chairman in 1999.