Matthew & Son
CAT STEVENS
Discography:
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Cat Stevens was born on 21st July 1948 as Steven Demetre Georgiou and is a prominent covnert to Islam, changing his name to Yusuf Islam. He is a British singer/songwriter of Greek Cypriot and Swedish ancestry. He began his music career performing songs in coffee houses and pubs.
At the age of 18, in 1966, manager/producer Mike Hurst helped him get a record deal. The first singles were, "I Love My Dog" (ironic for a man named Cat) which charted at No. 28, "Matthew & Son" reached No. 2 and "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" made it to No. 10. Stevens wrote and recorded the orginal version of The Tremeloes cover hit, "Here Comes My Baby".
1967-68 saw Stevens touring with a wide variety of artists including Jimi Hendrix and Englebert Humperdinck. Stevens' released "New Masters" in December 1967 which failed to chart. The album is most notable for the track, "The First Cut is the Deepest" which he sold to P.P Arnold for £30. The track went on to become an international hit for Keith Hampshire, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow and James Morrison.
At the age of 19, in 1968, Stevens nearly died of tuberculosis and a collapsed lung. In his year long convalesence he studied meditation, yoga, metaphysics and read about many different religions. In this time he also wrote around 40 songs which were much more introspective than his previous work. 1970 saw the first single released from his new album, "Mona Bone Jakon". "Lady D'Arbanville" went to No. 8 in the UK and was the first of his racks to recieve real US airplay. Stevens next album release was the international hit, "Tea for the Tillerman". Within 6 months it had sold 500,000 copies and gone gold in the UK and US. The album included the top 20 track, "Wild World". His follow up enjoyed great success with 1971s, "Teaser and the Firecat" going to No. 2 and achieving gold status in 3 weeks. 1972 saw "Catch Bull at Four" went gold in 15 days and stayed at No.1 in the US for 3 weeks!
On 23rd December 1977 Stevens formally converted to Islam and gave up his music career. He used his accumulated wealth to fund the worldwide Muslim community and is estimated to still earn $1.5 million from his music every year!
Yusuf Islam has recommenced his musical career in recent years and now tours with a new album.
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com.
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