Celebrities Name Change : Cat Stevens to Yusuf Islam

Creator of famous songs like “The First Cut is the Deepest”, “Peace train”, and “Wild World” Cat Stevens, currently known as Yusuf Islam has made a return to the world of music. Former music star, songwriter, and philanthropist had held the guitar once again and decided to portray a peaceful and tolerating image for the Muslims of the world.

Born as Stephen Demetre Georgiou in London, England on July 21, 1948. Stephen was the last and youngest among the three children his parents had. His father Stavros Georgiou was a Greek Cypriot and his mother Stavros Georgiou was a Swedish Baptist. Together they ran a restaurant named Moulin Rouge on Shaftsbury Avenue.

Due to the presence of theatres and the West-End, young Steven was strongly influenced to make a career in the world of music and displayed potential in the field. Although at the age of eight his parents divorced, they still cohabitated. Despite the turmoil, young Steven still perused his music career and made his first debut in July of 1964, where he performed in a local bar which instantly launched his career.

Soon afterwards, success started to flow in and Steven went professional by the name ‘Cat Stevens’ becoming a sensation in both the UK and the United States. Then one day, ‘Cat’ went for a swim in Malibu beach and almost drowned. When he had no strength left in him, he made a promise to God that he will devote his life to him if he would save him. Suddenly a strong current of waves came and pushed Cat back to the shore as if his prayers were answered and a divine intervention saved his life. The same year, Cat’s brother gave him a copy of the Quran as a birthday gift. Reading it made a deep spiritual impact on Cat Stevens and he converted his name from Cat Stevens to Yusuf Islam after turning to Islam in 1977.

Yusuf refused to record any form of secular music after that and refused any form of royalty from songs that preached messages which went against the Islamic teachings. Yusuf declared that he won’t be recording secular music anymore. He married Fawzia Ali in 1979 and started a small Muslim school near London. There, Yusuf spends the most of his life quietly, devoted to his faith and family.

The name change was a significant part of transitioning from ‘Cat Stevens the musician’ to ‘Yusuf Islam’. A Muslim who wanted his current life to be spent in compliance with the Islamic teachings and principles. Yusuf suffered a massive hit to his personal credibility after supporting the death sentence for the exiled novelist Salman Rushdie. Yusuf released albums of Islamic Themed Music and Lectures in the ’90s but made a come-back to secular music in 2004.

Despite attaining the height of fame and fortune; when Cat Stevens had to change his name, he used the power of the legal process to have it changed. Legal documents such as Deed Poll can be used for the name change process that makes a name change legally eligible and quiet easy. Cat Stevens had to undergo this process to attain a name that represented his newly acquired Muslim identity, so he had his name changed to Yusuf Islam.