He signed a publishing deal with Ardmore & Beechwood and cut several demos, including " The First Cut Is the Deepest". Originally, his goal was to become a songwriter, to emulate those of his favorite artists who wrote musicals, like Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. Although he enjoyed art - his later record albums would feature his original artwork on the covers - Georgiou wanted to establish a musical career. Fact|date=September 2008Īt age 16, he left school and was accepted by, then later dismissed from, Hammersmith Art School. With interests in both art and music, he and his mother travelled to Gävle, Sweden, where he started developing his drawing skills after being influenced by his uncle Hugo, a painter. cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1963|url= | publisher=Yusuf Islam official website | accessdate=] He would escape at times from his family responsibilities to the rooftop above their home, and listen to the tunes of the musicals drifting from just down the street.
At age 15, he extended this interest, and after convincing his father to buy him a guitar for £8, began practicing playing it and writing songs. cite news|url=|title=Interview With Yusuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens, Larry King Live|date=|publisher= CNN|accessdate=] Georgiou developed an interest in piano at a fairly young age, eventually using the family baby grand piano to work out the chords, since no one else there played well enough to teach him. Joseph Roman Catholic Primary School in Macklin Street, which was closer to his father's business on Drury Lane. cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1948|url= | publisher=Yusuf Islam official website | accessdate=] His parents divorced when he was about 8 years old, but they continued to maintain and live above the family restaurant.Īlthough his father was Greek Orthodox and his mother a Swedish Baptist, Georgiou was sent to a Catholic school, St. Every family member worked in the restaurant. cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1915|url= | publisher=Yusuf Islam official website | accessdate=] The family lived above Moulin Rouge, the restaurant that his parents operated on Shaftesbury Avenue, a few steps from Piccadilly Circus in the Soho theater district of London. 1900) cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1900|url= | publisher=Yusuf Islam official website | accessdate=] and a Swedish mother, Ingrid Wickman (b. Steven Georgiou was the third child of a Greek-Cypriot father, Stavros Georgiou (b. He lives with his wife and children in London, and spends part of each year in Dubai. In 2006, he returned to pop music, with his first album of new pop songs in 28 years, entitled " An Other Cup". He has been given several awards for his work in promoting peace in the world, including 2003's World Award, the 2004 Man for Peace award, and the 2007 Mediterranean Prize for Peace. The following year, he adopted his Muslim name Yusuf Islam, sold all his instruments and awards for charity, William Ruhlmann ] and left his music career to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. Stevens converted to Islam at the height of his fame in 1977. His songwriting has also earned him two ASCAP songwriting awards in consecutive years, for " The First Cut Is the Deepest," which has been a hit single for five different artists, and has been instrumental for others in establishing their musical careers. His albums " Tea for the Tillerman" and " Teaser and the Firecat" were both certified as Triple Platinum by the RIAA in the United States his album " Catch Bull at Four" sold half a million copies in the first two weeks of release alone, and was " Billboard's" number-one LP for three consecutive weeks.
He is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist and prominent convert to Islam.Īs Cat Stevens, he sold over 60 million albums around the world since the late 1960s. Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on 21 July 1948), best known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is a British musician of Greek Cypriot and Swedish ancestry. URL = |Notable_instruments = Stevie Ray Vaughn Fender Telecaster Island Records, A&M, Polydor, Jamal Records, Atlantic/Ya Records Years_active = 1966–1980 (as Cat Stevens) 1995–present (as Yusuf Islam) Instrument = Vocals Guitar Bass Mandolin Bouzouki Piano Harpsichord Polymoog Penny whistle African Drums Percussion For that reason, the very idea of a Cat Stevens greatest-hits collection may be troublesome to some fans, since they will only notice the missing album tracks, but Greatest Hits does its job exceptionally well.Born = birth date and age|df=yes|1948|7|21 Like many of his peers, Cat Stevens made records that were identified by strong, memorable hit singles, but make no mistake: he made albums that were cohesive works onto themselves.