Though singer/songwriter Al Stewart is best known for his ’70s pop hits, he was also a key figure in the ’60s British folk movement. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1945 but raised in Dorset, England, Stewart worked the scene starting in the mid-’60s alongside such legendaries as Nick Drake, Jackson C. Frank, and a pre-fame expatriate Paul Simon. Stewart released his first album, Bed-Sitter Images, in 1967, showing himself even at that early stage to be a nuanced musical storyteller, dealing in richly rendered narratives. He would soon become known for incorporating details about historical figures and events in his material. Stewart went several years without much commercial success, but his 1976 single “Year of the Cat” became a huge U.S. hit and made him a star in America. His biggest subsequent hit was 1978’s “Time Passages,” but Stewart continued weaving his complex, commanding tales for decades to come.