Born in London in 1948, Steven Demetre Georgiou was the youngest of three kids living above their divorced parent’s restaurant on Shaftsbury Avenue, where the entire family worked. After teaching himself to play piano on the restaurant’s baby grand he acquired his first guitar and would escape to the rooftop to write songs and listen to the musical numbers emanating from some of the nearby West End theatres.

At the age of seventeen Georgiou began to perform in local coffee houses and pubs and soon concluded that he preferred performing solo. As the stage name he’d then adopted (Steve Adams) didn’t seem to be cutting it, he decided to come up with something a little more memorable. The British love their animals and since his girlfriend especially liked cats, Steven Demetre Georgiou thought he might be able to gain a few fans by calling himself Cat Stevens.  The following year (1966) he got his big break when a producer was impressed enough with his songs to help him to land a record deal. The title song for that first album, Matthew and Son hit Number 2 on the British charts and Cat Stevens was on his way.

In 1967 he sold one of his songs to P. P. Arnold for £30, and although her rendition of The First Cut is the Deepest managed to reach Number 18 on the U.K. Chart, its durability would become the real surprise with major hit covers by Keith Hampshire in 1973, Rod Stewart in 1977 and Sheryl Crow in 2003.  It would go on to earn Stevens back-to-back ASCAP “Songwriter of the Year” awards in 2005 and 2006, forty years after it was written.

After he nearly died from tuberculosis and discovered newfound faith while convalescing, the course of Cat Stevens’ music changed dramatically, making him an international superstar in the ’70s.  Ultimately he changed his name as well, this time after nearly drowning off the coast of Malibu, when he decided to devote himself completely to God.  But lest we forget, before that ‘70s superstardom, today’s Mr. Ysuf Islam was once the epitome of a ’60s pop idol.

First recorded in 1967 for his debut album Matthew and Son, today’s selection (minus the final verse) became a huge hit for the Tremeloes whose version peaked at Number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and reached Number 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart that very same year.

 LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Wednesday 11 April

Here Comes My Baby

In the midnight moonlight, I’ll…

Be walking a long and lonely mile

And every time I do

I keep seeing this picture of you

Here’s comes my baby

Here she comes now

And it comes as no surprise to me

With another guy

Here’s comes my baby

Here she comes now

Walking with a love

With a love that’s all so fine

Never to be mine

No matter how I try

 You never walk alone

And you’re forever talking on the phone

I’ve tried to call you names

But every time it comes out the same

 Here’s comes my baby

Here she comes now

And it comes as no surprise to me

With another guy

Here’s comes my baby

Here she comes now

Walking with a love

With a love that’s all so fine

Never to be mine

No matter how I try

I’m still waiting for your heart

‘Cause I’m sure that some day it’s gonna’ start

You’ll be mine to hold each day

But ’til then this is all that I can say

 Here’s comes my baby

Here she comes now

And it comes as no surprise to me

With another guy

Here’s comes my baby

Here she comes now

Walking with a love

With a love that’s all so fine

Never to be mine

No matter how I try