Description

Cat Stevens's debut single found its way to the U.K. charts while he was still in his teens. He became an international star with 1970's TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN, which showed an evolution in his style. With his distinctive voice, memorable melodies, and sensitive, socially conscious lyrics, Stevens typified the singer-songwriter aesthetic of the early '70s. His records from that period were incredibly successful, familiar to anyone growing up at the time. Over the years, his music grew less accessible, and by the end of the '70s he had converted to Islam and turned his back on pop.

Biography

b. Stephen Demitri Georgiou, 21 July 1948, London, England. For Yusuf Islam, the constant search for the meaning of life that littered his lyrics and arose in interviews, seems to have arrived. Those who criticized his sometimes trite espousing now accept that his conversion to the Islamic faith and his retirement from a music world of "sin and greed" was a committed move. His legacy as Cat Stevens is a considerable catalogue of timeless songs, many destined to become classics.
The son of a Swedish mother and a Greek Cypriot father, Stephen Georgiou was raised in the Greek Orthodox faith while growing up in London. He first began performing under the name Steve Adams while attending Hammersmith College. In 1966, producer Mike Hurst spotted the singer performing and was so impressed that he arranged to record the newly christened Cat Stevens' original song, "I Love My Dog". Tony Hall at Decca Records was similarly impressed and Stevens became the first artist on the new Deram Records imprint. The record and its b-side "Portobello Road" showed great promise and reached the UK Top 30. Over the next two years Stevens delivered many perfect pop songs. Some were recorded by himself but many other artists queued up for material from this precociously-talented teenager. His own UK hits, "Matthew And Son" (number 2), "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun" (number 6) and "A Bad Night" (number 20) were equalled by the quality of his songs written for other artists; the soulful "The First Cut Is The Deepest" by P.P. Arnold and the addictive "Here Comes My Baby" by the Tremeloes. His two Decca albums are packed full of short, infectious songs, although they suffer from dated accompaniments.
Stevens contracted tuberculosis in 1968 and spent three months in hospital. During his convalescence he took stock of his life, and after releasing the failed comeback single "Where Are You' switched over to the Island Records label. Over the next eight years the astute listener can detect a troubled soul. 1970"s Mona Bone Jakon was the first in the series of albums that came to define what was known as bedsitter music, and featured the beautiful UK Top 10 hit "Lady D'Arbanville" (dedicated to his ex-girlfriend Patti D'Arbanville). It was followed by three hugely successful works: Tea For The Tillerman, Teaser And The Firecat and Catch Bull At Four. These albums revealed the solitary songwriter, letting the listener into his private thoughts, aspirations and desires. Stevens was the master of this genre and produced a wealth of simplistic, yet beautiful songs. Anthems like "Wild World", "Peace Train" and "Moonshadow", love songs including "Hard Headed Woman" and "Can't Keep It In", are all faultless and memorable compositions. Stevens was at his sharpest with his posing numbers that hinted of dubiety, religion and scepticism. Two of his finest songs are "Father And Son" (from Tea For The Tillerman) and "Sitting' (from Catch Bull At Four). The first is a dialogue between father and son, and gives the listener an insight into Stevens" lonely childhood in Soho. The line "How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again, its always been the same, same old story" the child continues with "from the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen, now there's a way that I know, that I have to go, away, I know I have to go'. The song is astonishingly powerful in relating Stevens" own turmoil to virtually every person that has ever heard the song. "Sitting" is similarly powerful, although it is a song of great hope. It opens confidently, "Ooh I'm on my way I know I am, somewhere not so far from here, all I know is all I feel right now, I feel the power growing in my hair". Few were unmoved by these two songs.
In his 70s heyday Stevens had eight consecutive gold albums and 10 hit singles in the UK and 14 in the USA. Catch Bull At Four topped the US album charts in 1972, the same year that Stevens contributed several songs to the soundtrack of the hit movie Harold And Maude. In 1975, while swimming off a Malibu beach, he got into trouble and began praying, declaring that if he was saved he would dedicate his life to God. After making it back to shore he stayed true to his promise, and despite recording a few more albums began to distance himself from the music scene. He enjoyed one final transatlantic hit in 1977, duetting with Elkie Brooks on "(Remember The Days Of The) Old School Yard", but after releasing the Back To Earth album the following year announced that Cat Stevens had officially "retired". He converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. In 1979, he entered into an arranged Muslim marriage and four years later founded a Muslim school in London. In recent years he has been very active teaching and spreading the word of Islam. In 1991 prior to the first Gulf War he travelled to Baghdad to seek the freedom of hostages. Reports in 1994 suggested that he was ready to return to the world of the recording studio, albeit only to offer a spoken word narrative on Mohammed - The Life Of The Prophet. He also wrote and performed two new songs for a 1998 Bosnian charity album I Have No Cannons That Roar.
In 2003, the former Cat Stevens began a quiet comeback to the music scene, re-recording "Peace Train" to express his opposition to the war in Iraq and making the track available for download. Later in the year he played a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. His name was splashed all over the media the following September when he was refused entry to the US, supposedly because his name appeared on a terrorism "watch list". This ugly diplomatic incident overshadowed news that the singer had returned to the studio to record a new version of "Father And Son" with Irish artist Ronan Keating. The latter had already recorded a hit version of the track during his time with the Irish boy band Boyzone.
DISCOGRAPHY: Matthew & Son (Deram 1966)***, New Masters (Deram 1967)***, Mona Bone Jakon (Island 1970)****, Tea For The Tillerman (Island 1970)****, Teaser & The Firecat (Island 1971)***, Catch Bull At Four (Island 1972)****, Foreigner (Island 1973)**, Buddha And The Chocolate Box (Island 1974)**, Saturnight Japan only (A&M 1974)***, Numbers (Island 1975)*, Izitso (Island 1977)*, Back To Earth (Island 1978)**. As Yusuf Islam The Life Of The Last Prophet (Mountain Of Light 1995)*, Prayers Of The Last Prophet (Mountain Of Light 1997)*, A Is For Allah (Mountain Of Light 1999)*.
COMPILATIONS: The World Of Cat Stevens (Decca 1970)***, Very Young And Early Songs (Deram 1972)***, The View From The Top (Deram 1974)***, Greatest Hits (Island 1975)****, Cat's Cradle (London 1977)***, The First Cut Is The Deepest (London 1981)***, Footsteps In The Dark: Greatest Hits Volume Two (A&M 1984)***, Classics Volume 24 (A&M 1987)****, Early Tapes (Spectrum 1988)***, First Cuts (Deram 1989)***, The Very Best Of Cat Stevens (Island 1990)****, Remember Cat Stevens: The Ultimate Collection (Island 1999)****, The Very Best Of Cat Stevens (UTV 2000)****, On The Road To Find Out 4-CD box set (Island 2001)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: Tea For The Tillerman Live - The Best Of (Island 1993), Majikat: Earth Tour 1976 (Eagle Vision 2004).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cat Stevens, Chris Charlesworth.

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