Frogtoon Music

The Very Best Of (Album) by Cat Stevens

Artist Biography For Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens Is The Former Stage Name Of Steven Demetre Georgiou Born In London On 21 July 1948 . He Is A British Singer-Songwriter Multi-Instrumentalist Humanitarian And Education Philanthropist. In December 1977 Stevens Converted To Islam And Adopted The Name Yusuf Islam The Following Year. He Began Releasing Music As Yusuf In 2006. Stevens' Albums Tea For The Tillerman 1970 And Teaser And The Firecat 1971 Were Both Certified Triple Platinum In The US By The RIAA. His 1972 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 Also Earned Two ASCAP Songwriting Awards In Consecutive Years For "The First Cut Is The Deepest" The Song Has Been A Hit Single For Four Different Artists. Some Of His Other Hit Songs Include "Father And Son" "Wild World" "Peace Train" "Moonshadow" And "Morning Has Broken". In December 1977 Stevens Converted To Islam And Adopted The Name Yusuf Islam The Following Year. In 1979 He Auctioned All His Guitars For Charity And Left His Music Career To Devote Himself To Educational And Philanthropic Causes In The Muslim Community.Stevens Became A Convert To Islam In 1978 After A Near-Death Experience. He Adopted The Name Yusuf Islam And Became An Outspoken Advocate For The Religion. Following His Conversion Yusuf Abandoned His Previous Career As A Pop Star With Which He Had Always Been Uncomfortable. Song And The Use Of Musical Instruments Is An Area Of Debate In Islamic Jurisprudence Law And Is The Primary Factor Cat Stevens Retreated From The Pop Spotlight. At One Point He Wrote To The Record Companies Asking That His Music No Longer Be Distributed But His Request Was Denied. Following Ayatollah Khomeini’s February 14 1989 Death Fatwa Against Author Salman Rushdie He Made Statements That Were Interpreted As Endorsing The Killing Of Rushdie. On February 21 1989 Yusuf Islam Addressed Students At Kingston University In London About His Conversion To Islam And Was Asked About The Controversy In The Muslim World And The Fatwa Calling For Salman Rushdie’s Execution. He Replied “He Must Be Killed. The Qur’an Makes It Clear - If Someone Defames The Prophet Then He Must Die.” Despite This He Has Received Several Awards For His Work In Promoting Peace In The World Including The 2003 World Award The 2004 Man For Peace Award And The 2007 Mediterranean Prize For Peace. Known Professionally By The Single Name Yusuf In 2006 He Returned To Pop Music With His First Album Of New Pop Songs In 28 Years Entitled An Other Cup. On 5 May 2009 He Released The Album Roadsinger. He Was Inducted Into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame In 2014.

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Cat Stevens Born Steven Demetre Georgiou Was The Son Of A Swedish Mother And A Greek Father Who Ran A Restaurant In London. He Became Interested In Folk Music And Rock & Roll In His Teens While Attending Hammersmith College And In 1965 Began Performing Under The Name Steve Adams. Mike Hurst A Former Member Of The Folk-Pop Group The Springfields Who Had Become A Record Producer Heard Him And Took Him Into A Recording Studio To Cut His Composition "I Love My Dog." This Demo Caused Decca Records To Sign Him Under The Name Cat Stevens And Assign Him To Its Newly Formed Deram Subsidiary. "I Love My Dog" Reached The British Charts In October 1966 Peaking In The Top 40. Stevens' Next Single "Matthew & Son " Entered The Charts In January 1967 And Just Missed Getting To Number One In America It Grazed The Bottom Of The Charts . It Was Another Self-Written Effort And Stevens' Reputation As A Writer Was Further Enhanced By The Success Of His Song "Here Comes My Baby " Which Was Recorded By The Tremeloes And Entered The British Charts In February Reaching The Top Five. In America It Peaked Just Outside The Top Ten. Stevens' Third Single "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun " Entered The British Charts In March And Reached The Top Ten Preceded By His Debut Album Matthew & Son Also A Top Ten Entry. In May P.P. Arnold Got Into The British Charts With Stevens' Composition "The First Cut Is The Deepest " Peaking In The Top 20. Ten Years Later Rod Stewart Topped The U.K. Charts And Reached The U.S. Top 20 With His Revival Of The Song. Sheryl Crow Revived It For An American Top 20 Hit In 2003. Stevens' Fourth Single "A Bad Night " Was In The Charts In August Peaking In The Top 20. That Was A Disappointment Considering His Recent Success And His Next Records Did Even Worse "Kitty " His Fifth Single Barely Made The Charts In December While New Masters His Second Album Didn't Chart At All. Even Worse In March 1968 Stevens Contracted Tuberculosis And Was Hospitalized For Three Months. He Spent A Year Recuperating. After The Failure Of An Intended Comeback Single "Where Are You " Released In July 1969 He Parted Ways With Deram.
Disillusioned By His Experience In The Music Business Stevens Began Writing More Personal Introspective Material. He Signed A New Contract With Island Records And Released His Third Album Mona Bone Jakon In April 1970. Drawn From The Album The Single "Lady D'Arbanville" Was Issued In June 1970 And Became His Third Top Ten Hit In The U.K. Causing Mona Bone Jakon To Chart Modestly In July. Stevens' Talent As A Songwriter For Others Had Not Deserted Him In August Jimmy Cliff Entered The British Charts With His Composition "Wild World " Reaching The Top Ten. With A Backlog Of Material Stevens Had A Second Island Album Tea For The Tillerman Out In November It Made The U.K. Top 20. In America Where His Island Recordings Were Licensed To A&M Records Mona Bone Jakon Had Not Charted But Tea For The Tillerman Marked His American LP Chart Debut In February 1971 Followed Shortly By The Single Release Of His Own Recording Of "Wild World " Which Appeared On The Album It Peaked In The Top 20. With That Stevens Suddenly Became A Major Star In The U.S. Tea For The Tillerman Reached The Top Ten And Went Gold Mona Bone Jakon Finally Reached The Charts It Was Belatedly Certified Gold In 1976 And Deram Reissued Matthew & Son And New Masters As A Two-LP Set Which Also Charted. Stevens Was Hailed As One Of The Most Important Figures In The Currently Popular Folk-Rock Singer/songwriter Trend Along With James Taylor Carole King And Others.
In June 1971 Stevens Released A New Single "Moon Shadow " Which Made The Top 40 In The U.S. And The U.K. This Was Followed In September By "Peace Train " Which Hit The Pop Top Five And Reached Number One In The Easy Listening Charts In The U.S. Just In Advance Of Stevens' Fifth Album Teaser And The Firecat. An Immediate Gold-Record Seller The LP Just Missed The Top Of The U.S. Charts And Hit The Top Five In The U.K. In Addition To "Moon Shadow" And "Peace Train " It Contained "Morning Has Broken " An Adaptation Of A Hymn Which Became Stevens' Second Consecutive Easy Listening Number One And Reached The Pop Top Ten On Both Sides Of The Atlantic. Meanwhile Deram Compiled Another Collection Of Juvenilia Very Young And Early Songs Which Peaked In The U.S. Top 100 In Early 1972 As Did A Belated American Release Of The Single "Where Are You."
Stevens Contributed New And Old Songs To The Film Harold And Maude A Black Comedy That Became A Cult Success After Its Release In 1972 Though No Soundtrack Album Was Released. The Previously Unreleased Songs From The Film Finally Turned Up On His Album Footsteps In The Dark Greatest Hits Vol. 2 In 1984. He Also Toured And Worked On His Sixth Album Catch Bull At Four. A Slightly Harder-Rocking Effort The LP Released In October 1972 Represented Stevens' Commercial Peak It Hit Number One In The U.S. And Just Missed Duplicating That Feat In The U.K. Earning Gold-Record Status Immediately. Different Singles From The Album Were Released In The Two Countries In The U.S. "Sitting" And In The U.K. "Can't Keep It In" Both Reached The Top 20.
By 1973 Stevens Was Again Beginning To Show Signs Of The Strain Of Being A Pop Star Even If He Didn't Become Physically Ill. For Tax Reasons He Left The U.K. For A Year And Moved To Brazil But He Donated The Money He Would Have Paid In Taxes To Charity. He Performed Less Often And Stopped Granting Interviews. In June He Released A New Single "The Hurt " Which Made The U.S. Top 40. It Was Followed In August By His Seventh Album Foreigner An Ambitious Effort That Featured An Entire LP Side Given Over To A Musical Suite. The Record Was Another Massive Commercial Success Peaking Inside The Top Five In The U.S. And U.K. And Going Gold Instantly. His Major Appearance For The Year Was A 90-Minute Performance On The American TV Show In Concert In November.
Stevens Issued His Eighth Album Buddha And The Chocolate Box In March 1974 Preceded By The Single "Oh Very Young " A Top Ten Hit. As Usual The Album Made The U.S. And U.K. Top Five And Went Gold Upon Release. In July Stevens Released An Independent Summer Single A Revival Of Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night " And It Made The U.S. Top Ten And The U.K. Top 20. In November A&M Extracted "Ready" From Buddha And The Chocolate Box And Released It As A Single That Made The Top 40. Stevens' Greatest Hits LP Was Released In June 1975 And Predictably Was A Big Success Eventually Selling Over Three Million Copies In The U.S. Alone. "Two Fine People " A New Song Featured On It Reached The American Top 40. Stevens Had His Ninth Regular Album Release Numbers Ready By November. As If In Acknowledgment That His Greatest Hits Were Now Behind Him The Album Only Made The Top 20 In The U.S. Though It Was Certified Gold Within A Couple Of Months Did Not Generate A Top 40 Single And Missed The Charts Entirely In The U.K. Stevens Took 18 Months To Deliver His Tenth Album Izitso In May 1977. It Restored Some Of His Commercial Clout Hitting The U.S. Top Ten And Being Certified Gold In A Month While Reaching The U.K. Top 20 And The Single " Remember The Days Of The Old School Yard" Made The Top 40 In America And Charted In Great Britain.
On December 23 1977 Stevens Formally Became A Muslim And Adopted The Name Yusuf Islam. Notwithstanding This Change There Was An 11th And Final Cat Stevens Album Back To Earth Released In December 1978 It Sold Modestly. With That Yusuf Islam Announced His Retirement From The Pop Music Business. He Entered Into An Arranged Marriage That Eventually Produced Five Children Auctioned Off His Possessions And Founded A Muslim School Near London. He Was Not Widely Heard From For Another Ten Years Until He Made News At The End Of The '80s By Commenting On The Ayatollah Khomeini's Fatwa Against Novelist Salman Rushdie For Writing The Book The Satanic Verses. Islam Later Explained He Was Not Calling For Rushdie's Death But That He Was Defining Islamic Law In The Same Way A Bible Student Would "quote The Legal Punishment Of A Person Who Commits Blasphemy In The Bible." Still "classic Rock" Radio Stations Discontinued Playing Him As A Result And 10 000 Maniacs Who Had Covered "Peace Train" On Their In My Tribe Album In 1987 Had It Removed From The Record. In 1990 The Compilation Album The Very Best Of Cat Stevens Reached The U.K. Top Five. A Different Album With The Same Title Charted In The U.S. In The Spring Of 2000 As Yusuf Islam Undertook A Promotional Tour In Connection With The Reissues Of Remastered Versions Of His Cat Stevens Albums. Then In 2006 Nearly 30 Years After The Final Cat Stevens Studio Album Islam Released A New Studio Effort An Other Cup. In Early 2009 He Collaborated With "fifth Beatle" Klaus Voormann For A Cover Version Of George Harrison's "The Day The World Gets 'Round." All Proceeds From The Song Were Donated To A Charity To Help The Children Of War-Torn Gaza. Later That Same Year He Released The Album Roadsinger. ~ William Ruhlmann Rovi

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