Cat Stevens's Real Name: Cat Stevens

Quick answer: The singer-songwriter is known professionally as Cat Stevens and, later, as Yusuf Islam. Britannica and Biography.com independently date his birth to July 21, 1948, in London, and they record a longer birth name that they spell differently, as noted below (Britannica; Biography.com).

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Cat Stevens and also as Yusuf Islam. Britannica gives the birth name Steven Demetre Georgiou. Biography.com independently gives Stephen Demetre Georgiou. This page records both spellings rather than treating them as the same form. Both date the birth to July 21, 1948, in London, and describe his parents, Stavros Georgiou and Ingrid Wickman, as restaurateurs who ran the Moulin Rouge, with the family living above the restaurant. Both say that at 15 he asked his father for a guitar and began writing songs.

Career highlights

Biography.com says that in July 1964, while attending Hammersmith Art College, he made a folk debut at a local bar, the Black Horse, and later adopted the stage name Cat Stevens. Britannica independently places a July 1964 performance under the stage name Steve Adams at a campus pub called Black Horse, then says he later changed his name to Cat Stevens. Both name early records including "The First Cut Is the Deepest" and the 1967 album Matthew and Son. Both say Tea for the Tillerman (1970) and songs such as "Wild World," "Father and Son," "Peace Train," "Moonshadow," and "Morning Has Broken" brought wider success, with Britannica dating Teaser and the Firecat to 1971.

Britannica says he converted to Islam in 1977, after being given a copy of the Qur'an by his brother, and that in 1978 he changed his name to Yusuf Islam. Biography.com independently says that in 1977 he changed his name to Yusuf Islam and converted to the Muslim faith. This page records both accounts of the year of the name change. Britannica says that the following year he stepped away from his pop career, and that in 2006 he returned under the billing Yusuf/Cat Stevens with the album An Other Cup, and that he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Biography.com independently notes mid-1990s Islamic-themed recordings.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam, Steven Demetre Georgiou, or Stephen Demetre Georgiou are looking for the same British singer-songwriter. The sources used here do not agree on a single spelling of the first given name.