Steven Demetri Georgiou alias Cat Stevens was born in London on 21st of July 1947. His parents owned a restaurant which they lived above and it was here that his interest in music grew**. At the age of 15 he received a guitar from his parents (his father was of greek descendent while his mother came from Sweden). From an early age Stevens only had two passions in life, art and music (the art he also later combined with his music career by producing some of his own covers for his albums). With the sound of musicals and the atmosphere of music everywhere, what better place could there be to start than in the West End of London for what was to become one of the most impressive songwriters of his time.

After the self penned "I Love My Dog" was heard, it become clear that this was not only a musician, but a writer who wrote from the heart. In 1966 Tony Hall of Decca Records signed him up as the first artist under the Deram label. Early hits from Cat Stevens included, "Matthew And Son", "Kitty", "Lovely City", "Moonshadow" and "Lady D'Arbanville" (the last song mentioned was actually dedicated to an ex girlfriend).

Going from earning 2 pounds a night to earning 300 would seem like a dream to most people. However, money is not everything and after he contracted tuberculosis in 1969 and nearly died, his values in life changed and the anguish of a man looking for a different direction in life could be heard in his music. Songs such as "Sitting" and "Father And Son" reflected a man who was unsatisfied and discontented with his station in life. The words from "Sitting" speak for themselves. When he sings "Oh I'm on my way now somewhere not so far from here" it is obvious he was looking for a different life style.

Despite his change in music the hits followed well into the 70s. In particular he wrote the classics "Wild World", "Oh Very Young", "Peace Train", "Moonshadow" and even had a hit by singing the hymn "Morning Has Broken".

In 1975 Stevens left England to live in Brazil for a year for tax reasons (the money which he would have given to the tax man he actually donated to charity). The giving side of his life would later play a major role for him.

By 1977, after a near fatal drowning accident in the Pacific Ocean, he seemed to have found peace in his life and embraced the muslim religion. He changed his name to Yusuf Islam and after his marriage to Fouzia Ali in London he opened up a muslim school there. Disgruntled with the music business he retired from it in 1981 and sold all his memorabilia from his career and put the proceeds into his future works.

In 1984 he set up Muslim Aid and established an international relief organisation for the starving in Africa. Controversial as well as good hearted is probably a good description of this star. While he has on more than one occasion endorsed the death sentence set on Salman Rushdie, author of the book "The Satanic Verses", in America these statements lead to many record stations banning his music and public burning of his records. Even in 1990 Stevens and his son were turned away from entering Israel as they were classed as undesirables. Since then, however, he has been involved in the successful release of gulf war hostages, and in 1999 was robbed of around 17.000 pounds whilst trying to enter Albania to distribute the money to Kosova refugees. At present he donates half of his annual income to various charities.

After 18 years away from the music world he released a new album in 1995 entitled " The Life Of The Last Prophet". Although a different style of music from his earlier works, it was well received by his fans.

Controversial or charitable? One thing is for sure: this singer/songwriter has written music that is still being played and heard all over the world today. Religion is a very dangerous subject and remarks that have been made by Stevens have been highlighted especially by the media. Maybe rightly so, but have the donations and the good will gestures also been equally mentioned? All I know is that a person who travels to war torn countries such as Iraq and Yugoslavia for peace reasons can't be all bad. I suppose you could say one title from his songs that sums him up would be "Peace Train".





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