Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, has announced that this coming winter he will be hitting the road in North America for the first time in 35 years, playing in six cities while also promoting his first new album in five years.

Cat Stevens
Stevens will be playing in six cities across North America this winter

The British singer, who converted to Islam in 1977 before taking a twenty-five year musical hiatus, will start his tour on December 1st in Toronto and then hit Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Stevens' upcoming album, which will be released on October 27th, is a blues set produced by Rick Rubin and titled 'Tell 'Em I'm Gone.' It will mostly consist of new songs, featuring collaborations with folk legend Richard Thompson, Charlie Musselwhite and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, but Stevens has also recorded covers of Edgar Winter's 'Dying To Live' and Procol Harum's 'The Devil Came From Kansas.'

In the last decade the 66 year-old singer has slowly emerged himself back into the music industry, but he has only made sporadic live and televised appearances in the U.S.

More: Find Out Who Cat Stevens' 2014 Fellow Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Inductees Were

"I've been a bit slow in coming around to the United States, but there were so many people asking me to do that, that I just felt an obligation," Stevens told Associated Press. He also said many fans request him to perform more via Facebook, which makes him feel bad "because I'm not doing as much as they want me to do. Then again, I'm 66 years old, and I do take things in my stride."

Cat Stevens
Stevens will also be releasing a blues album titled 'Tell 'Em I'm Gone'

"That's something I ran away from a long time ago," he continued. "But that's not to say the music business is the same as making music. When I finally reconciled my questions about the issue - where it should be in my life - by that time, I had something to say. I wouldn't be writing songs if I didn't have something to say."

Stevens was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this spring in Brooklyn.