Al Stewart (born September 5, 1945) is a British songwriter and musician. He is best known for his 1976 single
Year Of The Cat and its 1978 follow-up
Time Passages (both produced by
Alan Parsons). Stewart's inspiration for his songs primarily comes from the past; indeed, he is credited with creating his own genre, "historical folk rock". At one time in his life, Stewart took guitar lessons from
King Crimson guitarist
Robert Fripp.