Born Steven Demetre Georgiou on July 21, 1948 in London, England, Cat Steven was the third child to Greek-Cypriot Stavros Georgiou and Swedish Ingrid Wickman, living above Moulin Rouge, a restaurant operated by his parents near Piccadilly Circus.
Music and religion soon would become a dilemma to Steven after his Greek Orthodox father and Baptist mother sent him to a Catholic school where he learned to play the piano. At age 12, the young boy began to write songs and play guitar while he also developed drawing skills influenced by his uncle Hugo, that later would illustrate his album covers.
Steven dropped out of school when he was 16 years old and influenced by folk music began his musical career performing in pubs and coffee houses around London and changing his Greek name to Cat Stevens after a girlfriend told him he had eyes like a cat.
After adopting his new name in 1966, he met manager/producer Mike Hurst, who arranged Cat's first demo recording with the singles "I Love My Dog" and "Matthew and Son" the song that named Cat Steven's debut album in 1967
This album reached the UK' Top-Ten chart and Cat Stevens began touring with musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Engelbert Humperdinck, becoming the new pop British sensation of the late 1960’s.
However, he had to stop after he became ill with tuberculosis. The waiting time brought a spiritual awakening, turning Stevens into a vegetarian and philosopher that wrote about 40 songs during his convalescence.
Although Stevens continued achieving success, his breakthrough into the mainstream came with "The Teaser and the Firecat†album released in 1971, which produced worldwide hits "Peace Train" and "Morning Has Broken", but success didn't stop his spiritual search.
After his early religious formation, Stevens looked into Buddhism, Zen, I Ching, and even tarot and astrology until he found Islam. After his conversion, Cat Stevens adopted a new name, Yusuf Islam in 1978.
As Cat Stevens his discography includes 12 albums from 1967 to 1978, plus a live album released in 2004. As Yusuf Islam, he has recorded nine albums, including “Yusuf's Cafe Session†in 2007.
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