1. Eva Marie Cassidy was an American singer and musician known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice.
27 Facts About Eva Cassidy
1. 2.
Eva Cassidy's posthumously released recordings, including three number-one albums and one number-one single in the UK, have sold more than ten million copies.
3.
Eva Cassidy's music has charted within the top 10 in Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
4.
Eva Cassidy's father, Hugh Cassidy, is a teacher, sculptor, musician, former army medic, and world champion powerlifter of Irish and Scottish descent, while her mother, Barbara, is a German horticulturist from Bad Kreuznach.
5.
From an early age, Eva Cassidy displayed an interest in art and music.
6.
At age 11, Eva Cassidy began singing and playing guitar in a Washington-area band called Easy Street.
7.
Eva Cassidy's younger brother Dan, a fiddler, was a member of this working band.
8.
Eva Cassidy enrolled in art classes at Prince George's Community College but dropped out after finding them unhelpful.
9.
In 1986, Eva Cassidy was asked by Stonehenge guitarist and high school friend, David Lourim, to lend her voice to his music project, Method Actor.
10.
Eva Cassidy sang back-ups for various acts, from go-go rhythm and blues band Experience Unlimited to rapper E-40.
11.
Eva Cassidy seemed to like those nights, because there wasn't as much pressure.
12.
Eva Cassidy sang two tracks on a mainly instrumental album.
13.
Eva Cassidy eventually relented, on the condition that the studio track "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread", Cassidy's favorite song, would be included in the release, and that they start working on a follow-up studio album.
14.
Eva Cassidy's apprehension appeared unfounded as local reviewers and the public responded positively.
15.
Eva Cassidy had a relationship with Chris Biondo, but this had ended before her cancer diagnosis.
16.
In 1993, Eva Cassidy had a malignant mole removed from her back.
17.
Three years later, during a promotional event for the Live at Blues Alley album in July 1996, Eva Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting murals while perched atop a stepladder.
18.
Eva Cassidy's doctors estimated she had three to five months to live.
19.
Eva Cassidy opted for aggressive treatment, but her health deteriorated rapidly.
20.
Additional chemotherapy was ineffective, and Eva Cassidy died of melanoma on November 2,1996, at her family's home in Bowie, Maryland.
21.
In 1998, a compilation of tracks from Eva Cassidy's three released recordings was assembled into the CD Songbird.
22.
In May 2001, ABC's Nightline in the US broadcast a well-received short documentary about Eva Cassidy, a labor of love from Nightline correspondent Dave Marash who was a fan of her music.
23.
Eva Cassidy's cover of Time After Time was featured on the 2003 soundtrack CD of the popular superhero television series Smallville.
24.
An acoustic album, Simply Eva Cassidy, was released in January 2011.
25.
In 2002, the self-titled 1988 album by the band Method Actor, which featured Eva Cassidy, was re-released by the band's guitarist and producer David Lourim with Eva Cassidy's name displayed prominently on the cover.
26.
Eva Cassidy asserts that she converted the dollars to pounds incorrectly and was lambasted by Cassidy fans for her mistake.
27.
In late 2007, AIR Productions acquired the rights to produce a film based on Eva Cassidy's life, being produced by Amy Redford, Irwin Shapiro and Rick Singer.