Editing Cat Stevens (section)

=== Early life (1948–1965) ===
Steven Demetre Georgiou, born on 21 July 1948 in the [[Marylebone]] area of London,<ref name="Lifeline1948" /> was the youngest child of a [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]] father, Stavros Georgiou (1900–1978),<ref name="Lifeline1900">{{cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1900 |url=http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/0/c0a000278bb374d0e7ccc4fff9c6f50c/ |publisher=Yusuf Islam official Web site |access-date=26 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707231541/http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/0/c0a000278bb374d0e7ccc4fff9c6f50c/ |archive-date=7 July 2009 }}</ref> and a Swedish mother, Ingrid Wickman (1915–1989).<ref name="Lifeline1915">{{cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1915 |url=http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/0/89e745cf04fb2557b83cc08c8319216d/ |publisher=Yusuf Islam official website |access-date=26 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707232533/http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/0/89e745cf04fb2557b83cc08c8319216d/ |archive-date=7 July 2009 }}</ref>  He has an older sister, Anita (b. 1937), and a brother, David Gordon.<ref name="Lifeline1948">{{cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1948 |publisher=Yusuf Islam official website |url=http://www.yusufislam.org.uk/lifeline/0/bdf531e09252cc4c73fc5d84c4138cb3/ |access-date=28 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211022357/http://www.yusufislam.org.uk/lifeline/0/bdf531e09252cc4c73fc5d84c4138cb3/ |archive-date=11 February 2009 }}</ref> The family lived above the Moulin Rouge, a restaurant his parents operated on the north end of [[Shaftesbury Avenue]], a short walk from [[Piccadilly Circus]] in the [[Soho]] theatre district of London. All family members worked in the restaurant.<ref name="Lifeline1948" /> His parents divorced when he was about eight years old but continued to maintain the family restaurant and live above it. Stevens has a half-brother, George Georgiou, born in [[Greece]], presumably from his father's first marriage in Greece.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.majicat.com/articles/melodymaker673.htm |title=Cat Stevens And A Revolution In Athens |website=majicat.com |access-date=2 October 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010530212520/http://www.majicat.com:80/articles/melodymaker673.htm |archive-date=30 May 2001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619462.2018.1519429 |last=Varnava |first=Andrekos |title=Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) and his anti-war and pro peace protest songs: from hippy peace to Islamic peace |journal=Contemporary British History |volume=33 |date=2019 |issue=4 |pages=548–572 |doi=10.1080/13619462.2018.1519429|s2cid=149772127 }}; {{cite book |last=Varnava |first=A. |title=Serving the Empire in the Great War: The Cypriot Mule Corps, Imperial Loyalty and Silenced Memory |volume=9 |location=Manchester |publisher=Manchester University Press |date=2017}}</ref>

Although his father was [[Church of Greece|Greek Orthodox]] and his mother was a [[Baptist]], Georgiou was sent to St Joseph Roman Catholic Primary School, Macklin Street, which was closer to his father's business on [[Drury Lane]].<ref name="Larry King">{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/07/lkl.01.html|title=Interview With Yusuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens, Larry King Live|date=7 October 2004|work=CNN|access-date=7 January 2007}}</ref> Georgiou developed an interest in piano at a 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.<ref name="Lifeline1963"/> At 15, inspired by the popularity of [[the Beatles]], he became interested in the guitar.<ref name="BBC Radio2" /> He persuaded his father to pay £8 ({{Inflation|UK|8|1964|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}) for his first guitar, and he began playing it and writing songs.<ref name="Lifeline1963">{{cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1963 |url=http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/e7d1d7b4ed05dee95e2e98b6f8b9cabb/ |publisher=Yusuf Islam official website |access-date=23 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707230701/http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/e7d1d7b4ed05dee95e2e98b6f8b9cabb/ |archive-date=7 July 2009 }}</ref> He occasionally escaped his family responsibilities by going to the rooftop above their home and listening to the tunes of the musicals drifting from around the corner<ref name="Lifeline1948" /> on [[Denmark Street]], then the centre of the British music industry.<ref name="BBC Radio2"/> Stevens said that ''[[West Side Story]]'' particularly affected him and gave him a "different view of life".<ref name="Durrani">{{cite web|url=http://www.islamfortoday.com/vh1catstevens.htm |title=VH1 Profiles Cat Stevens in "Behind the Music" |last=Durrani |first=Anayat |date=October 2000 |publisher=Islamfortoday.com |access-date=19 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929071143/http://www.islamfortoday.com/vh1catstevens.htm |archive-date=29 September 2008 }}</ref> With interests in both art and music, he and his mother moved to [[Gävle]], Sweden, where he attended primary school (Solängsskolan) and started developing his drawing skills after being influenced by his uncle Hugo Wickman, a painter. They subsequently returned to England.<ref name="Sweden">{{cite web|url=http://majicat.com/articles/kittycat.htm|title=From kitten to cat|publisher=Fabulous 208|access-date=26 November 2008}}</ref>

He attended other local [[West End of London|West End]] schools, where he says he was constantly in trouble and did poorly in everything but art. He was called 'the artist boy' and said, "I was beat up, but I was noticed".<ref name="Stereo Review">{{cite news|url=http://www.majicat.com/articles/sterereview72.htm|title=Cat Stevens|last=Windeler|first=Robert|date=October 1972 |work=Volume 29, No. 4|publisher=Stereo Review|page=76|access-date=17 October 2008}}</ref> He took a one-year course at [[Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College|Hammersmith School of Art]],<ref name="musical roots">{{cite news|publisher=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3679808.stm|title=Yusuf's return to musical roots|date= 22 September 2004|access-date=19 July 2008}}</ref> considering a career as a cartoonist. Though he enjoyed art (his later record albums featured his original artwork),<ref name="Stereo Review"/> he decided to pursue a musical career. He began performing under the name "Steve Adams" in 1965 while at Hammersmith.<ref name="musical roots" /><ref name="Yahoo Bio">{{cite web|url=http://music.yahoo.com/ar-265346-bio--Cat-Stevens|title=Cat Stevens Biography on Yahoo Music|last=Ruhlmann|first=William |website=[[AllMusic]]| access-date=26 November 2008}}</ref> At that point, his goal was to become a songwriter. As well as the Beatles, other musicians who influenced him were [[the Kinks]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140220024226/http://www.mtv.com/artists/cat-stevens/related-artists/?filter=influencedBy "Artist Influences for Cat Stevens"]. MTV; retrieved 3 February 2014.</ref> [[Bob Dylan]], [[Nina Simone]], [[blues]] artists [[Lead Belly]] and [[Muddy Waters]],<ref name="Lifeline 1964">{{cite web|url=http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/732059b53c9209c0cc0b34c7549ce4a2 |title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline 1964 |last=Islam |first=Yusuf |year=2008 |publisher=Official Website |page=1964 |access-date=8 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707232416/http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/732059b53c9209c0cc0b34c7549ce4a2/ |archive-date=7 July 2009 }}</ref> [[Biff Rose]] (particularly Rose's first album), [[Leo Kottke]]<ref name="Stereo Review"/> and [[Paul Simon]].<ref name="Scoppa">{{cite news|url=http://majicat.com/articles/rock71.htm|title=Easy Does It|last=Scoppa|first=Bud|date=24 May 1971 |work=Rock Magazine |access-date=25 October 2008}}</ref> He also sought to emulate composers of musicals, such as [[Ira Gershwin]] and [[Leonard Bernstein]]. In 1965, he signed a publishing deal with Ardmore & Beechwood and recorded several demos, including "[[The First Cut Is the Deepest]]".<ref name="Lifeline1965">{{cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:1965 |url=http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/060ab65489b4e02c6a8b3d932af0c3b0/ |publisher=Yusuf Islam official website |access-date=26 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707231449/http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/060ab65489b4e02c6a8b3d932af0c3b0/ |archive-date=7 July 2009 }}</ref>