Cat Stevens

As Yusuf Islam:. Cox also found solo success for himself with his own 2000 single, "Phuture 2000". As Cat Stevens:. Harris mashed up songs by Billy Squier and Fischerspooner to create the song "Everybody Wants You To Emerge" for the Queer Eye For The Straight Guy soundtrack, and Cox recently remixed the Michelle Branch single "Breathe". The years link to the relevant year in music. They split up in late 2003 and both men are pursuing DJ/remix/production work on their own. This list excludes the many compilation albums which have been made. Thunderpuss also put out several singles themselves as artists, including "Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag", a fully electronic dance cover of the "Pigbag" song, "Stand Up" (with Latanza Waters), and "FMH" (under the artist name Harris & Cox).

Islam intends to donate the damages paid to him in recompense for the libels published by the newspapers to projects he himself has started to help orphans of the Asian tsunami. They also produced original songs for various artists, including Abigail ("Let The Joy Rise And If It Don't Fit"), Amber ("Taste The Tears"), and Soluna. "The harm done is often difficult to repair.". Blige ("No More Drama" & "Rainy Dayz", with Ja Rule), Céline Dion ("I Want You To Need Me"), Stacie Orrico ("Stuck"), and Kim English ("Higher Things"), among others. "It seems to be the easiest thing in the world these days to make scurrilous accusations against Muslims, and in my case it directly impacts on my relief work and damages my reputation as an artist. They also produced hit remixes of songs by Mary J. Mr Islam said he was "delighted by the settlement" which he said "helps vindicate my character and good name". Their biggest remix success was a hit remix of "It's Not Right But It's Okay" by Whitney Houston.

They also noted that Mr Islam was recently presented with the Man for Peace award. Over the course of almost six years, Thunderpuss had a very successful career as remixers and producers. Both newspapers acknowledged that Mr Islam is not, and never has been, involved in or supported terrorism, and that he abhors all such activities. They also produced Engelbert Humperdinck's 1998 album The Dance Album, but did not use the name Thunderpuss. The papers had made entirely fictitious statements the previous October, arguing that the US authorities were right to prevent Islam's entry into that country. Their first project as Thunderpuss was a cover of the song "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything", with Thea Austin, formerly of Snap! performing vocals. On 15 February 2005 Islam won substantial libel damages against two British newspaper, The Sun and The Sunday Times. They didn't start working together as a production team until late 1997, though.

The award was presented by Mikhail Gorbachev of the Gorbachev Foundation for Islam's dedication to promote peace, the reconciliation of people and to condemn terrorism.. Harris & Cox originally met in the late '80s and remained friends for years, with Harris eventually joining Cox at Interhit. On 10 November 2004, Islam was presented with a "Man of Peace" award in a ceremony in Rome, Italy that was attended by five Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Cox, an openly straight musician and DJ, had also worked for years as a DJ and producer, producing a megamix of Paula Abdul songs, among other things, and started his own record label, Interhit Records, with Jeff Johnson. "I remain bewildered by the decision of the US authorities to refuse me entry to the United States," he is quoted as saying. Harris, an openly gay musician and DJ, had worked previously as part of several music groups, including Kon Kan, Top Kat, Killer Bunnies and Outta Control, and had also released several singles himself. On October 1, 2004, it was reported that Islam has asked to have his name be removed from that list. Thunderpuss is the (mainly dance) remix/production team of music producers Barry Harris and Carl Cox.

"I think we have that obligation to review these matters to see if we are right," said the US Secretary of State. This "watch list" is currently under review, according to Powell. His deportation provoked a small international controversy and led British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to complain personally to Secretary of State Colin Powell at the United Nations. The United States Department of Homeland Security specifically alleged that he had provided funding to the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas, but did not back this allegation up with any evidence.

The following day, Islam was deported to England. The US Transportation Security Administration claimed there were "concerns of ties he may have to potential terrorist-related activities". Customs agents alerted the Transportation Security Administration, which then diverted his flight to Bangor, Maine, where he was detained by the FBI. While the plane was in flight, the Advanced Passenger Information System flagged Islam's name as being on a no-fly list. On September 21, 2004, Yusuf Islam was travelling on United Airlines Flight 919 from London to Washington.

[1] (http://catstevens.com/articles/00013/index.html). In response to this criticism, Yusuf Islam has since further clarified that he believes that a death sentence can only be carried out by the authority of a court in an Islamic society, and that he is opposed to anyone taking the law into their own hands by murdering Rushdie. In February 1989, "Salman Rushdie, indeed any writer who abuses the prophet or indeed any prophet under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death." This led to a public outcry, and a drop in record sales. In a February 21, 1989 address at Kingston Polytechnic (now known as Kingston University), Islam stated that The Satanic Verses is a blasphemous book, and that under Islamic law, a person found guilty of blasphemy must be put to death.

During this time period an Iranian fatwa (religious ruling) was issued, holding that it was an obligation of Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie. Yusuf Islam's comments in 1989 supporting the death sentence for Salman Rushdie after the publication of Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses provoked controversy.
See also: Islam in the United Kingdom. He states that much of the royalties are given to charity.

His web site today lists his available albums. A box set of Stevens/Islam's music, as well as remastered versions of his original albums, has since been released on CD. He also has and continues to have authority in any reissue of his songs and albums made as Cat Stevens in the 1970s. He has founded the charities Muslim Aid and Small Kindness to assist African famine victims.

Today, as Yusuf Islam, he lives with his wife and five children in London, where he is an active member of the Muslim community. "I relied on hearsay, that was perhaps my mistake.". "This issue of music in Islam is not as cut-and-dried as I was led to believe," he said. In 2003 he recorded "Peace Train" once more for a compilation CD which included David Bowie and Paul McCartney and performed in Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert with Peter Gabriel, recording and performing music in English for the first time after 25 years.

He has been instrumental in creating a web site called Mountain of Light (link below). He has also released the album A is for Allah, an instruction for children. He has since resumed making (Islamic) music, choosing to use only the human voice and basic percussion instruments in the compositions. But because of the already growing number of artists who had already been signed to perform, Stevens/Islam never got the opportunity to perform publicly at that time.

In 1985, Islam, aware of the world hunger problem gripping Ethiopia, decided to return to the public spotlight for the first time since his religious conversion in the historic Live Aid concert, and wrote a special song for the occasion. Following his conversion to Islam, Yusuf Islam at one point wrote to the record companies, asking that his music no longer be distributed; the request was denied. The song was a duet with Ronan Keating, the lead singer of Boyzone, which has already had a hit with a cover version of the song. "Father And Son's" proceeds were also going towards the Band Aid charity.

In December of that year, he released it in time for the Christmas singles chart, and it debuted at #2, behind Band Aid 20's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". In September 2004 it was reported that he may release a new version of "Father and Son". He converted to that faith in 1978, changed his name to Yusuf Islam, and abandoned his previous career as a pop star. Stevens was known to comment, "I said 'please, God, I'll do anything for you, I'll work for you...'" And thus, Stevens began to find peace with himself and began his transition to Islam (interestingly, a song from his 1972 album Catch Bull At Four, entitled "Boy With A Moon And Star On His Head," may have been a sign of things to come).

He pleaded with God to save him. According to an episode of VH1's Behind The Music, Stevens nearly drowned in a freak accident near the end of the 1970s. He also had a hit with a cover of Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night". For several decades two of these songs were unavailable except in the film; but have since been released on the disc Footsteps in the Dark.

In 1971 he also wrote music specifically for the film Harold and Maude. Many of them were performed only with him playing either the guitar or piano. His most popular songs included "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken", "Moon Shadow", "Wild World", "Father and Son", "Matthew and Son", and "Oh Very Young". In the ten years after 1967 he sold 40 million albums.

But it was in the early 1970s that the public really began to discover Stevens' music. In late 1967, at age 19, he entered a hospital and was diagnosed with tuberculosis; his career seemed over. Stevens published several songs in the late 1960s and went on tour, with moderate success. He went to art school at 17, and at 18 had his first hit with "I Love My Dog".

His mother later moved back to Sweden, and Stevens briefly went with her and attended school there for six months. When he was about eight, his parents divorced, although both continued to live above the restaurant. His parents ran a restaurant in Shaftesbury Avenue and they lived above it together with his older brother and sister. Although Stevens had Greek Orthodox blood, he went to a Roman Catholic school.

Born Stephen Demetre Georgiou in London to a Greek Cypriot father and Swedish mother, he has since changed his name to Yusuf Islam after converting to Islam. Cat Stevens (born July 21, 1948) was the stage name of a popular singer-songwriter during the 1970s. A is for Allah (2000). Prayers of the Last Prophet (1999).

The Life of the Last Prophet (1995). Box Set (2001) compilation containing many rarities and live tracks. Back to Earth (1978). Izitso (1977).

Numbers (1975). Saturnight (1974). Buddha and the Chocolate Box (1974). Foreigner (1973).

Catch Bull at Four (1972). Teaser and the Firecat (1971). Tea for the Tillerman (1970). Mona Bone Jakon (1970).

New Masters (1967). Matthew and Son (1966).