London born Steven Demetre Georgiou became famous in the 1970's for his unique folk-rock sound and was later recognised by many as the father of the 70's singer-songwriter boom. As Cat Stevens (eventually he would change his name again to Yusuf) he was a powerful, respected and much loved folk musician with hits like "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken" and "Trouble". After a near fatal accident in 1975 Stevens vowed to dedicate his life to god. For years Stevens had been on a quest for spiritual truth. After being given a copy of the Qur'an, Stevens' seemingly ceaseless spiritual quest came to an end. He found the peace, love and truth he was looking for in Islam.

Stevens turned his back on his music -- some in the Muslim faith believe that it is prohibited to sing or use musical instruments -- and changed his name to Yusuf Islam when he converted to Islam in 1977. Always a spiritual man, interested in peace and improving the human condition he instead turned his vast creative energy to improving life for his fellow human beings. Yusuf went on to found several Muslim Schools in London, channelling all royalties from his Cat Stevens work to charitable causes, including donating all royalties from the Cat Stevens Box Set released in October 2001 to charity - half dedicated to The September 11th Fund. In 1999 he founded the U.N. registered charity, Small Kindness which provides humanitarian aid to orphans and families in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Darfur, Kashmir and many other war torn areas of the world.

In 2004 Yusuf was awarded the prestigious Man for Peace award; which was created in 1999 by Mikhail Gorbachev (himself a winner of the Noble Peace Prize) to recognise those who had served humanity at large by giving "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace". Yusuf hasn't been immune to controversy and criticism. In early 1989 Yusuf was drawn into the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie and the fatwa against him. And then he was branded by some as a supporter of terrorism after the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington. He participated in the VH-1 pre-show for the Concert for New York City in October 2001, speaking of his sorrow at the loss of human life and condemning the attacks and then singing an a cappella version of "Peace Train" live for the first time in more than 20 years. It was then that he began making music for the mainstream again. Yusuf had released recordings on his own label Mountain Of Light, most of which had Islamic themes and only basic percussion instruments for accompaniment. But in 2006 he decided to re-enter the world of pop music, releasing the gentle and sincere, album An Other Cup.

He has weathered many storms and accomplished much in his life including releasing 13 albums and selling more than 60 million copies as Cat Stevens and another eight albums as Yusuf. His contributions both to music and to the world will undoubtedly continue for many years to come.