A new book by Yusuf Islam, better known as Cat Stevens, is now out in the Middle East entitled Why I Still Carry a Guitar: The Spiritual Journey of Cat Stevens to Yusuf.

The tome, in which the Dubai-based artist explains his conversion to Islam in 1977 and how it has shaped his life to the present day, is expected to be published worldwide next year, and to help shed some light on the true nature of the Cat.

Being misunderstood has been a constant in the singer’s life, he told The Australian recently, since he abandoned his career as a singer-songwriter in the 1970s to concentrate on his faith and humanitarian issues.

That frustration of being misunderstood is also felt on Yusuf’s new album Tell ‘Em I’m Gone, released on 31 October.

“It’s about being misunderstood oftentimes. Not always on purpose, but in the middle of what is said and what is heard and what is conveyed there is a whole lot of space there for people to get it wrong, not always intentionally,” Yusuf told The Australian.

Born Steven Demetre Georgiou to a Greek father and Swedish mother in 1948, Yusuf grew up in the bustling streets of London’s theatre district and got his earliest music education standing on the rooftop of the family home above their restaurant listening to the show tunes. Later, in his teens and early 20s, his skills as a songwriter and performer began to develop in local coffee houses. After being discovered in the mid-’60s, hits such as I Love My Dog, Matthew and Son and I’m Gonna Get Me a Gun gave him his first wave of success.

In his new album, Yusuf looks back at civilisations.

“Everybody believes that the civilisation they are living in is the best. It’s not really much different in some ways to previous civilisations. There are great developments and inventions, and then suddenly it all goes wrong. The plug of history gets pulled. And then everybody starts falling down the drain. I was reading that one of the last things to disappear in a civilisation is music. I’m trying to bring a bit more civilisation back into the music business.”

After his European and US tours, Yusuf is hoping to come to Australia again, but no dates have been set.

“We’d love to bring it to Australia. I have relations in Australia so I always feel very at home there.”

Cat Stevens/ Yusuf album Tell ‘Em I’m Gone is now out through Sony.