Famously retired songwriter Cat Stevens is set to play his first tour in more than 30 years after announcing a series of live dates.
Cat Stevens emerged as part of a wave of songwriters in the early 70s. Laid back, literate and deeply influenced by Bob Dylan these new voices included the likes of James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.
However after discovering Islam Cat Stevens began to have grave doubts over the material he was singing, and the role he played for a generation. Withdrawing from the limelight, he changed his name to Yusuf Islam and stopped making or performing music.
Recently, though, it seems as though the songwriter has mellowed. Yusuf Islam played a show mainly drawing on his Cat Stevens work in London to celebrate his record label Island’s 50th anniversary.
Since then, Yusuf Islam has given many interviews talking about his past performances. The singer even went as far as to claim that the Coldplay song ‘Viva La Vida’ borrows from his ‘Foreigner Suite’ – although unlike Joe Satriani he doesn’t want to sue.
Announcing a series of new shows, Yusuf Islam claimed that he will be performing material from a new musical, titled ‘Moonshadow’, at the shows.
“It’s taken a long time to arrive, but it’s always been a dream of mine to write a musical,” he said. “Growing up in the West End of London, surrounded by theatres and shows, obviously left a strong impression on me. I originally wanted to be a composer, not a pop star.”
Yusuf Islam has confirmed the following shows:
November
15 Dublin The O2
23 Birmingham NIA
December
5 Liverpool Echo Arena
8 London Royal Albert Hall
