Cat Stevens

“Moonshadow? Funny, that was in Spain, I went there alone, completely alone, to get away from a few things. And I was dancing on the rocks there…the moon was bright, you know, and I started dancin’ and singin’ and I sang that song and it stayed. It’s just the kind of moment that you want to find when you’re writin’ songs.”

Cat Stevens was born in 1948 as Steven Demetre Georgiou from a Greek-Cypriot family. His parents owned a restaurant in London near the heart of the music scene. At school he was constantly in trouble and did poorly at everything except art. Early on he showed an interest in the family piano and at fifteen bought his first guitar.

At eighteen Georgiou began playing in coffeehouses in London under the name Cat Stevens because “I couldn’t imagine anyone going into a record store and asking for that Steven Demetre Giorgiou album.” He was shy. In his early live performances, he often sang with his eyes closed - his way of shielding the attention that comes with stardom.

Cat Stevens’ first album and hit song Mathew and Son had the heavy percussion in tune with the pop and rock music of the time. After his first success he contracted tuberculosis. In the year it took to recover Stevens began to question life, humanity and his spirituality.

From this period of spiritual awakening he went on to release Teaser and the Firecat and Tea for the Tillerman which exploded onto the music scene and became instant hits in the UK and the US. This was the era of the folk melody and sensitive ballads and gentle tunes. Whereas other music would make an audience get up and dance, Stevens’ music would make you sit down and ponder, deeply.

Some of his songs had an upbeat gaiety; Rubylove and Another Saturday Night. He composed haunting melodies such as Sad Lisa and beautiful love songs such as How Can I Tell You and Lady D’Arbanville, dedicated to his girlfriend at the time. Peace Train, Wild World and Morning Has Broken can be recognized instantly, even today.

My favorite has to be Father and Son sung in baritone and tenor about the tension between a son wanting to set out for himself and a father gently urging him to be patient. On creating his songs he says: “I get the tune and then I just keep singing the tune until the words come out from the tune. It’s kind of a hypnotic state that you reach after a while when you keep playing it where words just evolve from it”.

Steven nearly drowned of the coast of Malibu in 1976 and after the experience left the world of popular music, changed his name to Yusuf Islam and converted to the Islamic Religion. He walked away from a record contract, sold all his guitars and dedicated himself to education and humanitarian relief founding schools and aid charities.

For nearly thirty years his old fans heard nothing from him. His children in vain tried to get him to play again until his son brought home a guitar. Late one night “I just thought, let’s have a go and try. I don’t remember what songs I played but when it was done I began crying”. The popular Cat Stevens re-emerged in 2006 as Yusuf Islam with the album An Other Cup. To crown his renewed public appearances Stevens was inducted in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame in 2014.

Illinois, Champagne-Urbana 1972. I was seven and entered the record store with my father. For some reason I took to the name Cat Stevens and twenty minutes later I walked out with my very first record; Teaser and the Firecat. I never stopped listening. I still have the record today and play it from time to time. On vinyl the scratchy tunes are as moving as that day many years ago when a father and son bought a record together.

Sources: Rolling Stone: Yusuf Islam’s Golden Years and Wikipedia

Main Picture Credit: Joe Malone