yusuf islam (born 21 july 1948) is an english singer. he sang many of his early songs when he called himself cat stevens. he was born as stephen demetre georgiou to a swedish mother and greek father. he became a muslim in 1977. after 2 years, he took the name of yusuf i̇slam. he has sold over 60 million albums around the world since the late 1960s as cat stevens or yusuf i̇slam.