Steven Demetre Georgiou Born on July 21, 1948 in London

CAT STEVENS – Yusef Islam

1957 9 year old Steven buys his first 48 Single, Little Richard’s, Baby Face.

1958 The American musical “West Side Story” comes to London. Soon all of England and Steven Georgiou (who lives across the street from the theater) loves Leonard Bernstein’s passionate, pulsating music.

• 1963 The Beatles hit #1 and set off the tidal wave of Beatlemania. Steve, along with millions of other teenagers, is crazy about them.

1963 - Aged 15, Steven buys a guitar and also plays on the family’s baby grand piano. Steve plays folk and rhythm & blues and Beatle-

style rock ‘n’ roll. 1963 JFK, VietnamGovernor George Wallace - Segregation,

• 1964 = Steve’s first public appearance, Influenced by musical theatre, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, jazz, and blues artists (particularly Leadbelly and Muddy Waters). Steve begins writing his own songs

• He intends to be a songwriter and to compose musicals like his heroes, Gershwin and Bernstein.

• One of his first songs"The First Cut Is the Deepest", (a song he sold for $50) earned him ASCAP "Songwriter of the Year" awards, in 2005 and 2006.

1965 Steve signs a publishing deal and records “The First Cut is the Deepest,”

• 1967 Stevens recorded and toured with • Jimi Hendrix and Engelbert Humperdinck

• 1967: Matthew and Son• 1967: New Masters

Changes his name to Cat Stevens1966 Song I Love My Dog reaches #28 in England

• 1968 Tuberculosis • A nagging cough, probably the result of too much drinking,

smoking and fast living, is diagnosed as tuberculosis, resulting in a year of bed rest. Steve is 20 years old. He begins to slow down, to think about what he really wants and to read up on Buddhism and starts to meditate.

• The first of a “new age” in musicals, “Hair” opens at the theater across from his home. Like many young people around the world, Steve is affected by its hippie ideals

• 1969 Apollo• America’s Apollo 11 astronauts become the first men

to walk on the moon. On Cat’s very 21st birthday, he and his close friends witness the historic moon landing.

• Stevens began to question his life, and spirituality. He took up meditation, yoga, became a vegetarian and read about other religions.

• 1970 – Vietnam protests, nuclear war/weapons, Peace and Environmentalist movement

• 1970: Mona Bone Jakon• 1970: Tea for the Tillerman

1970 Jimi Hendrix dies in London.

1971: Teaser and the FirecatMoonshadow/Father and Son (#30 USA, #22 U.K.)Peace Train/Where Do The Children Play? “Peace Train” becomes Steve’s first massive American hit, reaching No. 7.

“And if you listen to my music and lyrics, like "Peace Train" and "On The Road To Find Out", it clearly shows my yearning for direction and the spiritual path I was travelling.”

• Movie soundtracks • 1971 Harold and Maude – Stevens wrote the

songs for this movie. It became a popular cult movie celebrating the free spirit, Among the songs were "Where Do the Children Play?"

• 1972: Catch Bull at Four• 1973: Foreigner• 1974: Buddha and the Chocolate Box• 1975: Numbers

• 1975 LP: Greatest Hits album reaches #6 in America and becomes one of the best-selling Cat Stevens albums of all time.

• Religious conversion: • In 1976 Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of

Malibu, California, USA and said he shouted: "Oh God! If you save me I will work for you." Stevens' brother David Gordon brought him a copy of the Qur'an. Stevens took to it right away, and began his transition to Islam.

1977: Izitso1978: Back to Earth

• As Yusuf (1978 – Present)

2006: An Other Cup2009: Roadsinger