Short answers, pulled from the story.
Cat Stevens has sold more than 100 million records and accumulated more than two billion streams. His albums Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat were each certified triple platinum in the US, and Catch Bull at Four reached number one on the Billboard 200 in 1972.
Cat Stevens formally converted to Islam on the 23rd of December 1977, after a series of spiritual experiences including nearly drowning off the coast of Malibu in 1976 and receiving a copy of the Qur'an from his brother David Gordon. He took the name Yusuf Islam in 1978, auctioned his guitars for charity in 1979, and stepped away from pop music for nearly 25 years to devote himself to educational and philanthropic work in the Muslim community.
In 1989, at London's Kingston Polytechnic, Cat Stevens made comments that were widely reported as supporting the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's death. He later said the programme was improperly edited and that he was joking, and he has repeatedly denied supporting the fatwa. In a 2007 letter, Rushdie called his claims of innocence "rubbish".
On the 21st of September 2004, Cat Stevens, travelling as Yusuf Islam, was on a United Airlines flight to Washington when his name was flagged on the US No Fly List. The flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine, he was detained, and the following day he was denied entry and flown back to the UK. He believed it may have been a case of mistaken identity, as the listed name was spelled "Youssef Islam". He was admitted without incident in December 2006.
Cat Stevens, performing as Yusuf, returned to secular pop music in 2006 with the album An Other Cup, his first album of new pop songs in 28 years. He credited his son Muhammad Islam, also known as Yoriyos, with bringing a guitar back into the house, which reignited his interest in recording.
"The First Cut Is the Deepest" was written by Cat Stevens and recorded as a demo in 1965. He sold it for £30 to P. P. Arnold, and it later became hits for Keith Hampshire, Rod Stewart, James Morrison and Sheryl Crow. Forty years after he recorded it, the song's enduring success earned him back-to-back ASCAP Songwriter of the Year awards in 2005 and 2006.