Top Ten with "Lady D'Arbanville", But it was his late 1970 follow-up, "Tea for the Tillerman", that made him an international success.
He re-emerged with a new style in 1970 with the album "Mona Bone Jakon" and hit the U.K. Upon his recovery, he realised that his original demos, with their lack of orchestration, were better than the heavy studio singles and albums. Just a year after both albums were released, Stevens was felled by tuberculosis and took a couple of years off from music. Arnold took another of the album's songs, "The First Cut Is the Deepest" to the Top 20, a song that later became a hit for Rod Stewart. Although that effort did not reap as many rewards, one track, "Kitty", managed to wedge into the Top 50. The rather prolific young musician followed up "Matthew & Son" with "New Masters", also released in 1967. Another song, "Here Comes My Baby" became a hit for The Tremeloes, and the album itself landed in the Top 10. He had even more success with other songs from that album, namely the title track, which hit #2 on the UK charts, and "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun", which reached #6. The tune was included on the album "Matthew & Son", released in 1967. Much of Cat Stevens' success came in the '70s, but his music career began years earlier when he landed his first hit in England before he turned 20 with the song "I Love My Dog".
People close to him during his career always referred to him as Steve, not Cat. Cat Stevens, born Steve Georgiou in London, England, July 21, 1948, was the son of a Greek father and a Swedish mother.