- Disc & Music Echo- Saturday 29th
October 1966
- Courtesy of Linda Crafar
Cat Stevens Talks To Mike
Ledgerwood
Real Name: Steve Adams.
Age: 18½
Born: Middlesex
Hospital, London, 21/7/48.
Educated: At so many
different schools, I can hardly remember. Ended up at Hammersmith Art School where I
didn’t do much work. Spent a lot of time playing guitar on the fire escape steps.
Family: Mother,
father, brother, sister — one of each. I’m the youngest and have the scars to
prove it.
Lives: In
London’s Shaftesbury Avenue. Dad has a restaurant with living accommodation.
Favourite Food: Fruit
— particularly watermelon. My ultimate dream is to be locked in a room with hundreds
of peeled watermelons. I love slobbering into them.
Favourite Drink:
It’s silly, but it’s water. Though I do like vodka and lime — probably
because it looks like water.
Pets: Got a budgie
with no feathers which I call ‘Pretty Boy." It’s about 15 years old. So
old, in fact, that I have to call him Sir!
Girl Friend: Well,
there was the one who christened me "Cat". I went with her for about a year.
Then I decided that if I became famous it wouldn’t be fair on girl friends. Now they
come and they go.
Ambition: Ultimately
I’d love to act. Straight, though. I don’t think comedy would suit me. My
favourite actors are Dean, Newman and Brando. They’re my kind of people.
Car: Haven’t one.
Content with riding about in manager Mike Hurst’s Lotus Cortina. Was at the Motor
Show the other day. Must have a 420G Jaguar. Black with white windows. Why not?
Everybody’s got black windows. I want white!
Fears: Frightened of
drying up as far as music is concerned. I’ve said that probably 20 times — then
I find I’ve written a better song.
Obsessions: I’m
obsessed with success. If something means I’m successful I’ll do it 24 hours a
day. I love success.
Marriage: I’m
sure that when I get to the right age I shall enjoy it. I won’t have to look.
She’ll be there in front of me — HOLDING A GUN!
Hobbies: I paint when
I have time. Generally cartoons when I’m inspired. I used to send them to the
newspapers but they always sent them back saying they were too grotesque.
Politics: I wish it
could be as simple as writing a song. I get pretty angry sometimes about the way things
go. Every now and then I have the aspiration to be a politician. There’s yet to be a
politician who actually gets down to the basic facts.
Smokes: Tipped
cigarettes. I can’t lie — 2O a day. Have you got a cigarette? It’s written
into my contact that I keep my manager in cigarettes.
Religion: My first
school was Roman Catholic.
Dress: I like to be
very modern. I’m frightened that in years to come my children will look at my
pictures and exclaim: "Didn’t you dress old-fashioned, Dad!"
Likes: Getting away
from it all sometimes. Just walking alone — with a pencil and paper ready to write
down something.
Dislikes: I hate
people shouting at me. Hate them bossing me about. I also hate rain — avidly. First
time I heard my record was in the chart it was raining. I was brought down — just
because it was raining at the time.
Records: I’m
never influenced by a singer. More by a song. I like classical music and Jazz. And I like
to combine the two. Add a touch of commerciality and that’s it. An ambition is to
write and conduct my own stuff. Be right there in the centre of everything. Burt Bacharach
is one of my favourite composers — but he’s become too complex. I intend to
start complex and end up simple. It’s a challenge.
Superstitions: Only
time I’m frightened is when I see someone running at me with a knife. Then I know
something’s going to happen to me. Seriously? Well, I never take the third light from
a match.
Favourite Colour: White.
It’s what I like. You can have everything in white and not be bored.
****Snippets-Disc
& Music Echo- Saturday 29th October 1966****
Scene Page 2
Cat Stevens terrified of losing his
umbrella because it was a present from his mother. |
| Charts Page 3 Top 50
- 1 (1) Reach Out I’ll Be There Four
Tops Tamla Motown
- 33 (34) I Love My Dog Cat Stevens Deram
|
| Hit Talk By
Georgie Fame Page 3 I
rather like that Cat Stevens thing. The words don’t mean much, but it’s good as
a record. If this guy is handled carefully, he’ll have a bigger hit still next time. |
| Stars In The
News Page 5 Germany Gets
Cat
Cat Stevens tours Germany and Belgium for
four days from November 14th. He has already recorded "I love My Dog"
in French and German to tie in with these visits. Cat appears on "Crackerjack"
(2) and "Saturday Club" and "Countdown" (5) |
|
