Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) this week announced on BBC radio that he will guest at Fairport's Cropredy Convention. The three-day festival of rock, pop and acoustic music takes place in Oxfordshire on 13, 14 and 15 August 2009. This will be a unique chance to see Yusuf perform in a festival setting.Speaking on BBC 5 Live's Simon Mayo show on Tuesday (7 July 2009), Yusuf said: "I'm going to do Fairport's Cropredy, I'm going to try to pop in to do maybe three, maybe four songs."
As Cat Stevens, Yusuf sold more than 60 million albums worldwide from the late 1960s until he quit music in 1979. Albums such as 'Tea for the Tillerman' and 'Teaser and the Firecat' were platinum sellers and his best-known songs include 'Morning Has Broken', 'Wild World', 'Moonshadow', and 'Matthew and Son'. He also wrote 'The First Cut is the Deepest' which was covered by PP Arnold, Sheryl Crow, and Rod Stewart among others.
Fairport Convention founder-member Simon Nicol says: "As Cat Stevens, Yusuf has written many classic songs and richly deserves his stature as one of popular music's greats. Nothing has been nailed down yet but it would be marvellous to share the Cropredy stage with him."
Gareth Williams, Fairport's Cropredy Convention festival director, said: "Yusuf and Fairport go back a long way - they were stablemates on Island Records, Fairport's drummer, Gerry Conway, played in Yusuf's band for many years, and Simon Nicol joined him in the studio for the 'Numbers' album. We usually keep our special guests under wraps because we love to surprise our Cropredy audience. But now that the 'Cat' is out of the bag we can confirm we've been talking to Yusuf about a guest appearance at Cropredy."
After a long career break, Yusuf returned to the musical fold two years ago. "I've gone back to music because I love it," he says. His new work has been critically acclaimed and his most recent album, 'Roadsinger' (released in May 2009), has been extremely well received. Rolling Stone lauded the album's "classic sound in tight, sweet ballads" and BBC Music found it "as mellow and meditative an experience as you would expect" citing "the albums stand-out track, the ravishingly beautiful instrumental miniature Shamsia."
