In 1977, after ten years as a recording artist, Cat Stevens converted to Islam and took the name Yusuf. Shortly after, he auctioned off all his guitars for charity and left music behind.
Until Yusuf came back in 2006 with an album — An Other Cup — and then more one, Roadsinger, in 2009. “I had to get a life and get off my high horse and join the human race,” Yusuf told Billboard of his return to music. In one week, Yusuf will release his first studio effort in five years with Tell ‘Em I’m Gone. The record features twangy, piano-laden covers of “You Are My Sunshine,” Edgar Winter’s “Dying to Live” and Procol Harum’s “The Devil Came From Kansas.” The whole thing is now streaming at NPR, and classic Cat Stevens fans might find themselves pleasantly surprised. (Unless they’ve already gotten back on board in the Yusuf era; or, of course, if they never fall off board.)
Tell ‘Em I’m Gone was co-produced by Rick Rubin and recorded in L.A., London, Dubai and Brussels. Stevens is pairing the October 27 record with a six-date tour beginning in December, his first string of North American dates in 35 years. He’ll also play a small handful of European shows.
Yusuf was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in December 2013. And just last week, The Simpsons paid an extended tribute to the 1970 cut “Tea for the Tillerman”: