Eva Cassidy

Eva Marie Cassidy was an american vocalist, and she was known for her beautiful jazz voice. She was born on February. 2 1963, and grew up in Oxon Hill in Washington D.C. Ever since she was a little girl, she was interested in music. At the age of 9, her father taught her to play the guitar and at family gatherings, she started to sing and perform. To years later, she joined a band called Easy Street, and they performed in weddings, corporate parties and pubs.

She was very shy, and because of this she struggeled to perform in front of strangers. In the summer of 1980, she performed six days a week at the local theme park, Wild World.



Her actual music career, started when a high school friend,  David Lourim, asked her to be a singer in his music project. This led her to Black Pond Studios, where she met Chris Biondo. She got a job as a session singer, and after a while Al Dale became her agent. She mostly did a lot of covers of known songs, and "Over the Rainbow" became her signature song.

In 1993 Eva removed a malignant mole from her back, but three years later she felt some aching in her hips. The pain didn't stop and shen she took X-rays, they revealed that the melanoma had spread to her lungs and bones. She had aggressive treatment, and her final performance was in september 1996. She died quietly in her family home in Bowie, November 2 1996, at the age of 33.

Her first album was a duet album with Chuck Brown, and it is called The Other Side. It was released in 1992 by Liason Records. A year later she was honored by the Washington Area Music Assosiation, and she went home with a Wammie for Vocalist Jazz/Traditional category. Her other album, was released in 1996, LIve at Blues Alley. At the same time, she was working on another album, Eva by Heart, and it was released in 1997. Time after Time, No boundaries, Imagine and Wonderful World are albums that was released in the years after her death.





She has a lot of other famous songs, and among them are Fields of Gold, Autunm Leaves, Wonderful World and Time after Time etc.

Here is a video of one of her performances :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMznNlfLXP4&feature=related

You should really listen to this song, it's amazing!


What's your favourite song ?