Not sure if I’m reawakening a controravercial subject here…
Back in 2017 (Cat Stevens→Yusuf Islam merge), there was a proposed merge and susequent discussion if the entries for Cat Stevens and Yusuf Islam should be merges - with the outcome that they weren’t.
Now with Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ latest release “Tea for the Tillerman 2” perhaps its time to reexamine.
I’ve added a release for the CD of this, https://musicbrainz.org/release/db151046-9bb2-4427-ba29-6636cebbd84c and while doing so have altered the release group credit from Cat Stevens credited as Yusuf / Cat Stevens to Yusuf Islam credited as Yusuf, Cat Stevens separated by " / ".
My own vote would be that Yusuf Islam and Cat Stevens’ should be merged, they are not (as suggested for separate entries) imo separate “projects” but an evolution of Yusuf Islam as an individual and an artist.
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I’m on the record as being in favor of “one person = one artist entry” with all other ACs being set as aliases, but I am way in the minority on this (and of course MB rules trump my personal feelings).
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Compare with, for example Johnny Cougar > John Mellencamp.
I’m unfamiliar with the history here, but the fact that the artist’s own website (www.catstevens.com) is titled Yusuf / Cat Stevens, with the artist’s own discography page listing both old and new releases, suggests strongly in favour of merging.
The merged artist name should probably be called Yusuf / Cat Stevens as this appears to be the current artist name. All other artist and legal names should be added as aliases with appropriate date ranges if known.
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I’ve notice on many 2019-2020 compilations he is credited now as Yusuf / Cat Stevens, and the fact that his website says the same definitely indicates that he’s changed his artist name.
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