In 1970 before the Sylmar earthquake Bo Diddley moved into the Granada Hills neighborhood where Cat lived. Bo hired Cat to teach his 5 and 7 year old daughters piano, then went on tour for three months. When he got back Bo expected his daughters to be playing typical childhood pieces, but Cat had taught them 12 bar blues instead. When he heard the girls boogieing down, this started a friendship between the two men and Bo invited Cat to help write for and produce a backup singer of his, Cookie V. They went into Gold Star Studios and recorded You Got The Wrong Girl and Queen Of Fools, later released as a single on Chess Records.

A few years later a student of Cat's, Mark Winkler invited Cat to a songwriting group of professionals who met once every week over a two year span to critique each other's work. Here, he honed his craft and made some valuable contacts. One of his writing partners, Leslie Ruchala, gave him a song lyric called In Love which would become Cat's first successful commercial release.

In the late 70s Cat worked with an R&B singer named Cheryl Lynn and helped her audition for a TV program, The Gong Show. She sang such an inspired version of Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful that phones began ringing off the hook the next day. One of the callers was the president of Columbia Records who offered her a recording contract.

During the year that followed Cat often worked with Cheryl helping to develop her style and experiment with different songs and phrasings. She recorded several songs of his but Columbia threw her early efforts in the can until they found a winning formula. This strategy worked as Cheryl Lynn soon after recorded her smash debut dance oriented album which included the hits Got To Be Real and Star Love. Although she recorded a few of Cat's songs none were released until her second album in 1980. In Love became that album's title song and second single.

A few years later in 1985, Cheryl recorded another of Cat's songs on her Encore album. This Time, co-written with Thurlene Johnson, made it to 49 on the charts.

Another song by Cat released during this period You Set My Love In Motion was co-written with Maureen Bailey and recorded by Syreeta on Motown Records (the album had a stay on the R&B charts for several weeks). A working relationship with KDAY disc jockey Don Tracy and producer Clarence MacDonald led to two more releases, Touchdown, co-written with Don Tracy and recorded by Freddie Hubbard on Fantasy Records and Splash, co-written with Thurlene Johnson and also recorded by Freddie Hubbard on the same album, incidentally called Splash. (the album got up to the 20s on the jazz charts in 1980-1981).

Cat's Childhood

Cat's Education

Cat's Gigs

Cat Cohen & The Canary Sisters

Pop Song Study and Success

Cat as a Journalist

Cat goes back to the Theater

Cat Cohen Today