Which musician retired too soon?

Artie Shaw, who retired because he felt the music industry was strangling his creativity.

There certainly are some great musicians who have 'preceeded us in death.' It's sad to think of how many are no longer with us.

Another gentleman that I really enjoyed was Steve Taylor, especially the "I Predict 1990" lp. He is alive and well but is only producing as far as I know.

There certainly could be a long list of people who I would like to see be more productive. Some of my favorite musicians haven't released new material in a long time.

Cat Stevens retired for deeply held religious convictions?!? Anyone else remember he supported the murder fatwah against Salmon Rushdie which resulted in at least two translators (one Japanese and the other European) being murdered? Anyone else catch that expose about 5-6 years ago in, I think, the Wall Street Journal about his charity? The one whose workers would walk right over the bodies of starving Jewish, Christian, and Hindu children to get to the Muslims? No other charity in existence that I know of operates in this way.

Hooper, I think if you used any kind of Yiddish words like chutzpah around Stevens he'd have you thrown out.

People like George Harrison (Vaishnava Hinduism) and Richard Gere (Tibetan Buddism) chose different spirtual paths and show us all paths are not the same. Remeber, Cat Stevens resused to ever criticize the Taliban and, as I remember the article saying, supported their destruction of the 100+ ft Buddist statues. This is not a guy to admire.

OK, Let's switch gears and discuss who should have retired but, for whatever reason, continue on. Individuals as opposed to bands. My short list, none of whom have released anything noteworthy in years:
David Bowie
Phil Collins
CS&N (all of them)
Billy Joel
Elton John
Linda Ronstadt
Ted Nugent

Tomryan:

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but from what I've read, Cat Stevens never supported the fatwah against Rushdie. He was asked by a reporter about the fatwah, and, from what I recollect, he responded that, if the Koran were interpreted strictly, then, yes, Rushdie would die. But then he added that he did not favor strict, fundamentalist interpretations of the Koran. His major mistake was that he didn't come out and explicitly say that he was opposed to the fatwah. The reporter took his comments and twisted them so that people interpreted them to mean that he did support the fatwah. Stevens did issue a few press releases to the contrary, but by then, there was such a furor over the story that his response went ignored. And the murder of the translators had nothing to do with his comments. It was a terrorist move by fundamentalists--something that this country is all too familiar with. I can't speak to the criticism of his charity, as I never heard anything about that. I will look into it further, though. And I can't blame him for not speaking up against the Taliban. He may be principled, but he's not stupid. Ever think of what happened to those who did speak up? Let's just say, they'll never be heard from again. I have my opinion, and I do admitre the guy. He made a bold decision at the height of his fame and threw away countless millions to follow his religious convictions. I wonder how many here would do that. Would you?