CAT STEVENS Ex-singer lands in the news again

He may have had associations with potential terrorists, an official said.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- He hasn't been an entertainer for decades, but when the folk-rock singer once known as Cat Stevens has resurfaced over the years it's usually in a way that stuns or confuses the fans who still love his old songs.
Wednesday brought another such incident: Stevens, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam when he became a Muslim in 1977, was detained after a flight to the United States because his name is on a government anti-threat watch list.
Although the one-time singer of "Peace Train," "Morning Has Broken" and "Wild World" abandoned his fame and converted to the religion to find a sense of tranquility, it has often brought him public scorn.
He previously angered many around the world by appearing equivocal in the 1980s about the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses."
Some radio stations banned his music or symbolically destroyed his albums, but he later said his remarks were misunderstood, and insisted he did not want to see Rushdie killed.
No surprise
However surprising his life choices have been for fans, it was no surprise that Cat Stevens never wanted to be a star.
At the peak of his career, Stevens, a Briton who was born Stephen Georgiou, even wrote a song about his distaste for showbiz. It was plainly titled "(I Never Wanted) To Be a Star."
One verse went, "I never wanted to be a star/ buy my mom a Ferrari car/ I only wanted/ to run my own race/ So I could win a small place/ in your heart."
He decided to change his life after nearly drowning at a beach in Malibu in 1976. Shortly afterward, his brother returned from Jerusalem with an English translation of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. A year later, Stevens converted and changed his name.
He married in 1979 and formally renounced his singing career in 1981.
"It was not necessarily the music or the singing, but everything else that was corrupt: the drugs, sex, conceit, the unhealthy competition," Islam told The Associated Press in 1995.
He married a woman named Fouzia Ali and they had five children, and became a teacher and an advocate for his religion, founding a Muslim school for children in London in 1983.
Islam has been active with numerous charities over the years, but has consistently declared he is not a militant.
Condemns action
Islam recently condemned the school seizure by militants in Beslan, Russia, that left more than 300 dead, nearly half of them children. In a statement on his Web site, he wrote, "Crimes against innocent bystanders taken hostage in any circumstance have no foundation whatsoever in the life of Islam and the model example of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him."
Last year, he re-recorded his 1971 hit song "Peace Train" at studios in Johannesburg, South Africa, to raise money for children affected by the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Other contributors include Paul McCartney, David Bowie and George Michael.
Amid the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, he was part of a group that tried to deliver $33,000 directly to Kosovo refugees, but border guards stopped them and confiscated the money. He later said he delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kosovo war orphans.
What did he do?
Just what he did to make the warning list remained unclear. A government official said Wednesday that authorities had received information he may have had associations with potential terrorists.
He was not accused of being a terrorist himself, however, and was set to be deported on the next available flight out of the United States.
The former pop star has found a kind of mature acceptance of his musical past, and has tried to use his Cat Stevens shadow to draw attention to his devotional records, such as the children's religious guide "A Is for Allah."
Cat Stevens songs remain popular to this day.
His recordings turned up on soundtracks for movies such as "Rushmore" and "Almost Famous," while the songs are frequently covered by contemporary artists. Sheryl Crow has a current radio hit with his "The First Cut Is the Deepest," and The Mavericks did a country-western version of "Here Comes My Baby."
Although he has said he considers his old love songs impure, Islam has also acknowledged, in lighter moments, that he still enjoys listening to some of his old music and he has not tried to withhold the music from the public.