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Desert Island Discs

Yusuf Cat Stevens, musician

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.413.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2020

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Yusuf Cat Stevens is a singer-songwriter who first enjoyed success more than 50 years ago. He was born Steven Demetre Georgiou in July 1948. His Greek Cypriot father and his Swedish mother ran a restaurant in the West End of London, and he helped out there from an early age. He also became interested in music, writing and singing his own songs, partly inspired by the success of The Beatles. Under the name Cat Stevens, he was just 18 when he had his first hit, and soon found himself on tour with Engelbert Humperdinck and Jimi Hendrix. His career came to a sudden halt in 1969, when he contracted tuberculosis and was forced out of the limelight for a year of recuperation. It was also a time of reflection. He emerged a changed man in 1970 - a sensitive singer-songwriter whose albums, including Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat, sold millions of copies around the world. While enjoying fame and success, he also thought more deeply about religious faith, an interest which increased after he nearly drowned while swimming in the Pacific. He became a Muslim in 1977, changed his name to Yusuf Islam and walked away from music. He soon became one of the UK's most high-profile Muslims, and was often asked to comment about aspects of Islam. For two decades, he didn’t touch his guitar, but in 2006 he made a comeback with an album entitled An Other Cup. He has released three more albums since then and has recently recorded a new version of perhaps his best-known work, Tea for the Tillerman. Yusuf lives in Dubai with his wife Fawziah. They have four daughters and one son who has followed in his father's musical footsteps. DISC ONE: America from West Side Story by Anita (Rita Moreno), Bernado (George Chakiris), The Sharks And Girls DISC TWO: Tutti Frutti by Little Richard DISC THREE: Twist and Shout by The Beatles DISC FOUR: March From A Clockwork Orange (Beethoven: Ninth Symphony: Fourth Movement, abridged) by Wendy Carlos DISC FIVE: The Wind by Cat Stevens DISC SIX: Allah Uya by Ali Farka Touré DISC SEVEN: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood by Nina Simone DISC EIGHT: As by Stevie Wonder BOOK CHOICE: The Masnavi I Ma'navi of Rumi: Complete by Maulana Jalalu-'d-din Muhammad Rumi (Author), E. H. Whinfield (Translator) LUXURY ITEM: Bendicks Bittermints CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: As by Stevie Wonder Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

0:04.9

Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Disks Podcast.

0:08.8

Every week I ask my guests to choose the 8 tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take

0:13.3

with them if they were cast away to a desert island.

0:16.5

For right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.

0:20.6

I hope you enjoy listening.

0:30.0

Music

0:42.0

My cast away this week is Yusuf Kat Stevens.

0:45.2

Timeless is an overused word in pop music, but in his case it's entirely appropriate.

0:51.0

It's now 50 years since his breakthrough album T for the Tilliman brought him international

0:55.9

acclaim and his songs have endured.

0:58.2

The first cut is the deepest, wild world, father and son, moon shadow, peace train.

1:03.8

They aren't just classics, they're standards, adapted from era to era and genre to genre.

1:09.8

But whether you hear him covered by P.P. Arnold, Maxi Priest or Dolly Parton, you can't

1:14.4

miss his songwriting.

1:16.0

His trademark sincerity and curiosity about life's big questions made him one of the most successful

1:21.9

British songwriters of his generation.

1:24.6

Those qualities also directed his personal journey.

1:28.0

After a high profile conversion to Islam at the height of his success, he put his guitar

1:32.4

down for over 20 years.

1:34.3

Today he's performing again and says, I see music as a gift and all I'm doing is enjoying

1:40.4

that gift.

...

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