I still have no idea how or when Cat Stevens became a part of the music of my life.

I grew up with music always playing. The radio. Dad, drumming in the Band. Mum singing.

School raids on the music room to play records.

And always – somehow – this voice and his lyrics snuck in under my radar.

I didn’t even know his real name. Greek/Cypriot/Swedish?

Georgiou began performing his songs in London coffee houses and pubs. At first he tried forming a band, but realised he preferred performing solo. Thinking his birth name might be difficult to remember, he chose the stage name Cat Stevens, in part because a girlfriend said he had eyes like a cat, but mainly because “I couldn’t imagine anyone going to the record store and asking for ‘that Steven Demetre Georgiou album’.

Cat times 2

HOW DO I KNOW THIS SONG ?

Totally confused… !