Iconic singer songwriter Yusuf Islam formally known as Cat Stevens returned to the stage after a 33 year hiatus to a standing ovation at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Yusuf Islam gave a triumphant and spellbinding performance to the venue’s capacity audience.
Yusuf launched into a series of new songs from his most recent studio albums “Roadsinger” and “An Other Cup” before rewarding the audience with a string of his classic and timeless songs such as “Moonshadow”, “Morning Has Broken”, “Wild World”, “The First Cut Is The Deepest” amongst others, before finishing on an unforgettable “Father and Son”. Yusuf is pictured on stage with his Gibson J-200 Cutaway acoustic guitar which he used during much of the set.
Under his present and former persona as Cat Stevens, he sold over 60 million copies in the 1970’s. With a glittering young career then and regarded as one of the great icons of his generation, he turned his back on this with his conversion to Islam in 1977. Subsequently he became the founding Chairman of Muslim Aid and became instrumental in promoting Islam and various charities as the Maqam Educational Centre in London and his own charity Small Kindness which reaches out to orphans. Money raised from this brief UK tour will go to these good causes.
Watch a classic “Father & Son” performance from the BBC Sessions:
For more information on Yusuf Islam please visit – www.yusufislam.com and www.catstevens.com
Photo Credit: John Rahim