Eva Cassidy
Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and musician. She was known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a 1996 live solo album titled Live at Blues Alley. Although she had been honored by the Washington Area Music Association, she was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, D.C. area at the time of her death from melanoma at the age of 33 in 1996.
Two years after Cassidy's death, Mike Harding and Terry Wogan played her versions of "Fields of Gold" and "Over the Rainbow" on BBC Radio 2, bringing her music to the attention of British audiences. Following an overwhelming response, a camcorder recording of "Over the Rainbow", taken at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. by her friend Bryan McCulley, was shown on BBC Two's Top of the Pops 2. Shortly afterwards a compilation album, Songbird, climbed to the top of the UK Albums Chart, almost three years after its release. Chart success in the United Kingdom and Ireland led to increased recognition of Cassidy worldwide and her posthumously released recordings, including three number-one albums and one number-one single in the UK, have sold more than ten million copies. She has charted in the top 10 in Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
Nine posthumous albums of her music have been released. The most recent, I Can Only Be Me, a collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra, was released in 2023 and charted at number 9 on the UK album chart.
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