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Click on Y.Nasheed to listen
Born Steven Demetre Georgiou, the son of a Greek Cypriot father and Swedish mother, Yusuf Islam grew up above the family restaurant in
London’s theatre district, situated at the northernmost junction of Shaftesbury Avenue on the edge of the West End. He started playing
guitar at the age of fifteen and following a brief spell at Art College, was discovered by ex-Springfield, Mike Hurst. The result was his first single,
“I Love My Dog”. Now known as Cat Stevens his next hits included Matthew & Son and The First Cut Is the Deepest.
Cat Stevens went on to become one of the biggest teenage heartthrobs of the 1960s, but his initial success was short-lived. After a serious
bout of TB he undertook a search for peace and spiritual enlightenment and this heralded the most prolific phase of his musical career. As one
of the most reflective singer-songwriters of the 70s he penned such classics as Moonshadow, Wild World and Father and Son, selling over 40 million LPs
. After almost drowning in the Pacific Ocean at Malibu he received a translation of the Qur’an as a gift from his elder brother, David. His
spiritual quest for answers was fulfilled and he embraced Islam in December, 1977. Six months later he changed his name to Yusuf Islam
and walked away from the music business to start a new life and raise a family.
Today, Yusuf Islam is arguably one of the world’s most famous converts to Islam. His pioneering work in the field of education resulted in
securing a landmark decision by the British government to extend support to underprivileged Muslim Schools in Britain. The three schools
he founded in London’s district of Brent – Islamia Primary, Islamia Girls’ Secondary and the Brondesbury College for Boys – consistently
top the Borough’s examination league tables. Yusuf’s UN-registered charity, Small Kindness, provides humanitarian relief, through direct aid
as well as social and educational programs, to orphans and families in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and other conflict regions of the world.
Yusuf Islam was awarded the World Social Award by Mikhail Gorbachev for his humanitarian relief work
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