The Cat's out the bag

He was born Steven Demetra Georgiou to a Greek father ans Swedish mother, then became famous under his stage name Cat Stevens. He went on to be known as Yusuf Islam, as was often billed as Yusuf / Cat Stevens.

He's very well known for hits such as Wild World, Morning Has Broken, Father and Son and The First Cut is the Deepest amongst others, but there are many people who swear he is known for one he apparently he had no involvement with: "The Cat's in the Cradle".

Is this nothing more than people half-remembering a song in his style, for which the only thing in common with him was the word "Cat" in the title?

Career

Steven's single, "Matthew and Son", reached number 2 in 1967 in the UK singles chart. It was taken from his first album, which shared the name and entered the top 10. He then had a series of hit albums throughout the 1970's before he converted to Islam in 1977 and changed his name in 1978 to Yusuf Islam. At that point he gave up his musical career and even auctioned off all his guitars for charity. His conversion to Islam was not without controversy, in particular his comments about Salman Rushdie. He returned to music in 2006 wit the release of a new ablum titled An Other Cup, his first for 28 years, and he dropped the word "Islam" from his name. In 2009 he started touring again - the first since 1978.

Harry Chapin

The 1974 original is seen today as the one from Harry Chapin - it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in that year. There's a well-known cover too from Ugly Kid Joe in 1992, and Johnny Cash recorded a version on his 1989 Boom Chika Boom album.