Cat Stevens Nominated for Rock Hall
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
By Roger Friedman
It had to happen eventually. Cat Stevens â?? now known as Yusuf Islam â?? has been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
My sources tell me he's a shoo-in, too.
Stevens had several huge-selling popular records in the 1970s, until he became a Muslim and changed his name. Those hits were "Moon Shadow," "Peace Train," "Oh Very Young," a cover version of Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night," "Father and Son" and "Wild World."
A decade or more ago, Stevens was roundly denounced for seeming to back the fatwa, or death sentence, placed by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini on the head of writer Salman Rushdie for his novel "The Satanic Verses."
Last year he was refused entry into the United States on suspicion â?? ridiculous as it was â?? that he was a terrorist of some sort.
Nevertheless, Islam does run a school in London's Islington neighborhood that is closely watched by authorities.
Stevens is not the only slam-dunk on the Rock Hall list.
For reasons that elude me, jazz legend
Miles Davis is also there. So are the Dave Clark Five, John Mellencamp, Blondie, the Sir Douglas Quintet, the J. Geils Band, the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash, the Stooges and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In other words, one woman (Smith) and no R&B stars. I guess we exhausted the latter category in the last couple of years with the Dells, the O'Jays and Percy Sledge.
But the list of omissions continues to be a problem. Where are Linda Ronstadt and Carly Simon? The Moody Blues? Todd Rundgren? Billy Preston ?
And if Davis â?? a weird choice if ever there was one â?? is indeed selected from the above group, then posthumous entries wouldn't seem to be a problem.
In that case, Motown's Mary Wells â?? who had hits like "My Guy," "Don't Mess With Bill" and "Beaten to the Punch" â?? should have been in already.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169338,00.html
