Cat Stevens - Biography
By J Poet
Cat Stevens has had four careers in his life, each successful in its own way. In the late ‘60s, he was a pop songwriter with many British hit singles who also wrote hits for other bands. At the height of his pop career he contracted tuberculosis and, while recuperating, began writing more introspective songs. His second career kicked off with Mona Bone Jakon (1970 Island), the first of seven straight gold and platinum albums in the singer/songwriter vein. In 1977, he converted to Islam, made one last pop album and vanished from the public eye. Under the name, Yusuf Islam, he recorded several albums of Islamic songs and tales from the Qur’an. Most recently, he returned to pop with An Other Cup (2006 Ya), an album of songs that explored his life and lifelong spiritual quest. In 2003, he was awarded the World Social Award for his humanitarian relief work. He was given the Man for Peace Award by a committee of Nobel peace laureates in 2004 and an honorary doctorate by the University of Gloucestershire for services to education and humanitarian relief in 2006. Islam was one of the artists that performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in 2006 to honor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.
Stevens was born Steven Georgiou to a Greek Cypriot father and a Swedish mother in 1948. The family lived in Soho where Stevens grew up playing both Greek and Swedish folk music on his guitar and piano. When his parents divorced, he lived with his mother in Sweden, where he started painting and dreamed of becoming an artist. After returning to London, he attended the Hammersmith College of Art, playing his songs at night in pubs and coffee houses. Mike Hurst, a pop impresario, saw Stevens live and helped him record a demo of his songs. He brought the demo to Decca Records and they signed Stevens to their new Deram subdivision. They placed his songs with other artists and released his first album, Matthew & Son (1967 Deram UK). It yielded three Top 10 singles, “I Love My Dog,” “Matthew and Son” and “I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun.” It also included his version of “Here Comes My Baby,” already a hit for The Tremeloes. He was an instant teen idol but his follow-up, New Masters (1967 Deram UK), failed to chart, even though it included “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” later a hit for Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow and others.
In 1968, Stevens contracted tuberculosis. While recuperating, he began writing more reflective, personal songs. He also started meditating and became a vegetarian. He signed with Island Records, who introduced him to producer and ex-Yardbird, Paul Samwell-Smith, and guitarist Alun Davies. Island set up an American deal with A&M Records. Mona Bone Jakon included a modest hit, “Lady D'Arbanville,” and “Katmandu,” featuring Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel on flute. It was another modest and Stevens and Davies toured England as a duo. Tea for the Tillerman (1970 A&M) went gold in the US and UK upon release, thanks largely to “Wild World,” his first international hit.
In 1971, nine of Stevens’ tunes were used on the soundtrack of the cult film Harold and Maude. Although no soundtrack album was ever released, the film helped make American audiences aware of Stevens' songwriting gifts. Teaser and the Firecat (1971 A&M) made #2 on the album charts and included three more Top 10 hits, “Peace Train,” “Morning Has Broken” and “Moon Shadow”. Catch Bull at Four (1972 A&M) went gold in 14 days and debuted on the album charts at #2.
Stevens had always been a spiritual person and began questioning his life as a pop star. He moved to Brazil, partially to escape the high taxes, although he donated what he would have paid to charity. Foreigner (1973 A&M) showed Stevens pushing himself as a composer with the 18 minute “Foreigner Suite” as well as a more mainstream hit, “The Hurt.” Buddha and the Chocolate Box (1974 A&M) returned to a more acoustic sound with Alun Davies again featured on second guitar. “Oh Very Young” was a hit in both the US and UK and the album quickly went gold. A cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night” gave him another top ten single. Greatest Hits (1975 A&M), released in early 1975, sold four million copies and went platinum. Later that year he released another album, Numbers (1975 A&M), a collection of songs written for a story Stevens had written about a planet named Polygor.
While off the coast of Malibu, California in 1976, Stevens almost drowned and promised God that he’d devote his life to good works if he lived to walk on shore again. A large wave appeared and pushed him back to shore. Shortly thereafter his brother David gave him a copy of the Qur’an and, as Stevens read it, he became to feel a peace he’d never known. Izitso (1977 A&M) was released in May of the following year. It included the hit “(Remember the Days Of the) Old Schoolyard” and a lament about his ambivalent feelings toward the music business, “(I Never Wanted) To Be Star.” In December, he formally became a Muslim and took the name Yusuf Islam. He released one more album as Cat Stevens after his conversion. Back to Earth (1978 A&M) was a subdued, introspective outing and a fitting coda to his pop career.
Islam then gave away his material possessions and donated his royalties (which earn him more than a million dollars a year) to charity. He founded three Muslim schools, Islamia Primary, Islamia Girls’ Secondary and the Brondesbury College for Boys. He also created Small Kindness, which assists famine orphans and displaced children in Darfur, the Balkans, Kashmir and Iraq. In late 1990, Islam made a series of albums that combined readings of Islamic texts with new songs celebrating his religion including The Life of the Last Prophet (1995 Resurgent), Prayers of the Last Prophet (1999 Resurgent) and A Is for Allah (2000 Resurgent), the latter an album that introduced children to the teachings of Islam.
In 2006, at the urging of his son, Islam made a new album, An Other Cup, which he put out on his own Ya label as “Yusuf, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.” The songs on the album are strong and spiritual without being overtly religious. His voice is still soothing and the melodies are as good as any he’s ever written. He’s currently at work on a musical play based on his spiritual journey. In 2009 he released Roadsinger.
