I'm a little young to know about him so discuss him for my benefit. Was he actually a cat? What do you think of him?

 

Cat Stevens was a mediocre folk singer from way back when pterydactyls roamed the skies.

Fed up with servicing groupies and ingesting substances of questionable legality, Mr. Cat converted to Islam, changed his name to Yessuf Islam, grew a hideous beard and faded into well-deserved obscurity where he has remained ever since.

That'll be ten bucks for the free trivia answer.

 

I'm sure the internet has a list of his songs, and I enjoyed them when I was a teenager. Peace Train, Moonshadow, Morning has Broken...
Then he went all Islam and became someone I would not like.
Six string acoustic guitar (bronze strings) and a fair voice, better than Bob Dylan or me in the shower, but there is no other popular singer I can say he was better than (and I wasn't a popular singer). Cat Stevens Complete lists 60 songs from 1970 to 1975, and about 3 of them were good.

 

I think I'd like to become a folk singer. The music always makes me think of winter in 1975 (I wasn't born yet, just the impression), a log cabin, a fire in the fireplace, sweaters... How do I begin on this path?

 

If I knew that, I'd be rich. I hung with bands and artists as a sound man and electronics specialist in the '70's and still have no idea how it works. Probably because nobody I knew hit it big so I could ride on his coat tails to riches and groupies. Do you want to start with a Wayback machine and go to the 1970's where people know about being scammed by record companies, or straight to the Star Maker machinery in 2013 Los Angeles?

 

Star Maker machinery, whatever that is. It sounds a lot cooler.

 

OK. Get an act together and try to get on American Idol.
Go play and sing with some famous guys and impress them with your abilities.

Anybody else have ideas?

 

I sponsored a knock off band,years too soon....it would have been real money now.

Maybe some rights,Elvis is still alive...he make more now.

 

Was he actually a cat?

yeah, he was a real cool cat.

 

Hello,

The wiki has quite some article about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_stevens

Bertus

 

If I knew that, I'd be rich. I hung with bands and artists as a sound man and electronics specialist in the '70's and still have no idea how it works. Probably because nobody I knew hit it big so I could ride on his coat tails to riches and groupies. Do you want to start with a Wayback machine and go to the 1970's where people know about being scammed by record companies, or straight to the Star Maker machinery in 2013 Los Angeles?

Nah, that was Joni Mitchell

I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song

One of the few songs tattooed to my very soul, and I have no idea why.

 

I watched some youtube vidoes of this guys and I've decided that my view of folk singers from the 70s is totally skewed. I don't want to be like this. I'll be starting a blues thread soon.

Thanks

 

Now you're talking about real music- the blues- JayGatsby.

I have downloaded more Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, John Mayer and Jimi Hendrix tunes from youtube than you can shake a stick at, but then I stumbled into the most under-rated blues guitarist ever, and his name is Robben Ford.

The smooth blend of jazz chords and innovative blues scales and licks that Robben Ford unleashes hints at an almost unlimited vocabulary of voicings and harmonies that Hendrix and SRV couldn't muster even in their finest moments.

Robben Ford is simply a formidable talent, despite his rather ho-hum singing voice, and I have gone into another download frenzy of his tunes from youtube. Check Mr. Ford out, and if you love the blues, you can't go wrong listening to this maestro.

I am so inspired by Robben Ford's multi-layered melodic approach to guitar work that I intend to purchase as many of his tutorial DVDs as I can afford, in the hopes that I can assimilate even a tiny fraction of the fretboard magic this genius teaches and plays.