The always terrific Cat Stevens in about 1972, I think, sings one of the best-titled love songs of all time.
Cat was born Steven Demetre Georgiou. His dad was a Greek-Cypriot who married a Swedish mother. The family ran the Moulin Rouge restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue in London, just up from the Piccadilly Circus in Soho, and his family lived in the flat above the restaurant.
This particular song, if memory serves me correctly, was on an LP called "The World of Cat Stevens," and I owned another record in the set called "The World of Lulu" -- the singer in the movie "To Sir With Love."
Cat Stevens converted to Islam sometime in the late 1970s, and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. He still performs some, gives a lot of money to charity (including the September 11 Fund for victims' families, to orphanages in the developing world, and to help the Tsunami victims in the Indian Ocean).
In 2004, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Committee gave him their "Man of Peace" award for his "outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace."
Lulu in concert, just to round out the post. After 40 years, she still sounds great and looks great. We should all be so lucky!
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2 comments:
Do you know if Yusuf still performs this song since his conversion?
Don't know. Been a loooong time since I went to a concert put on by anyone.
P
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