Cat Stevens, currently known as Yusuf Islam, is embarking on his first tour in over 30 years, as reported by Yahoo! UK. As some of you may know, Islam all but retired from music at the height of his success in the mid-seventies after he converted to — duh — Islam. He sold his material possessions and, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the radar.
But! Now he’s back, bringing his tea for the tillerman to the stage again with a short tour at four UK and Irish stages this year. At the concerts, he’ll be giving us a preview of what he’s been up to all these years — a musical called Moonshadow.
“It’s taken a long time to arrive, but it’s always been a dream of mine to write a musical. Growing up in the West End of London, surrounded by theatres and shows, obviously left a strong impression on me,” Islam said.
“I originally wanted to be a composer, not a pop star. Strange how it’s taken almost a lifetime, but it had to – the story is somewhat a metaphorical mirror of my own journey so I suppose it had to wait to reach where I am today.”