The former Cat Stevens is back with an R&B-influenced album and will tour North America for the first time in more than 35 years, his label said Monday.

Cat Stevens – who changed his name to Yusuf Islam after becoming a Muslim in 1977 – wrote his own blues songs and covered classics for the album Tell ‘Em I’m Gone, to be released on October 27.

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The British singer, best known for his folk and pop, released a first track from the album, a largely faithful-to-the-original version of Edgar Winter’s 1971 song Dying to Live.

Yusuf, 66, said in a statement that he discovered as part of his “50-year musical and spiritual exploration” that he had an “R&B alter-self waiting to be let free”.

“What’s powerful and profound, to me, is the overall message which emerged, lyrically,” Yusuf said.

Yusuf announced six concerts in North America starting on December 1 in Toronto and ending December 14 in Los Angeles.

Cat Stevens last performed in North America in 1976 when the singer of hits such as Wild World, Father and Son and Peace Train was at the height of his fame.

Yusuf quit touring after his conversion to Islam, playing limited performances – mostly tied to his faith – until his 2006 comeback album An Other Cup.