Songbird (2023 Remaster) Eva Cassidy

• 1Fields Of Gold (2023 Remaster)04:43
• 2Wade In The Water (2023 Remaster)04:04
• 3Autumn Leaves (2023 Remaster)04:44
• 4Wayfaring Stranger (2023 Remaster)04:28
• 5Songbird (2023 Remaster)03:45
• 6Time Is A Healer (2023 Remaster)04:17
• 7I Know You By Heart (2023 Remaster)04:01
• 8People Get Ready (2023 Remaster)03:24
• 9Oh, Had I A Golden Thread (2023 Remaster)04:52
• 10Over The Rainbow (2023 Remaster)04:59
• Total Runtime43:17

Info for Songbird (2023 Remaster)

Five years after her death at age 33, Eva Cassidy is an international star. Songbird, a platinum-selling smash, reached #1 in England, Ireland, and the U.S. a recent Nightline profile about Eva generated more emails than almost any other program in it's history. When you hear this album, you'll know why the Washington Post raved that "she could sing anything... and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered." (43 minutes)

"Songbird pickt sich die Rosinen aus den drei Alben von Eva Cassidy, die damals nur regional veröffentlicht wurden. Ihre eindringliche, schöne Stimme verhallte 33 Jahre lang ohne jedes Echo außerhalb ihrer Heimatstadt Washington, D.C. Cassidy, die 1996 einem Krebsleiden erlag, sang mit einer ungekünstelten Ursprünglichkeit und einer erstaunlichen Begabung Klassiker und moderne Songs so, als seien diese ganz speziell für sie geschrieben worden. "Fields of Gold" von Sting macht seinem Titel durch die Wunderwirkung von Cassidys überirdischer Stimme alle Ehre, während andere Tracks dieser Anthologie demonstrieren, mit welcher Leichtigkeit sie sich in den Bereichen Popmusik (Christine McVies "Songbird"), Soul ("People Get Ready"), Gospel ("Wade on the Water") und bei traditionellen Klassikern bewegen kann ("Autumn Leaves" und "Over the Rainbow"). Umrahmt wird dies alles von zurückhaltenden Jazz- und Pop-Arrangements. Eva Cassidys klare, gefühlvolle Stimme und ihre exzellente Phrasierung machen sie zu einer dieser so seltenen Sängerinnen, deren Interpretationen für jeden Song eine Bereicherung darstellen. Eine gelungene Hinführung zu einem echten Talent." (Billy Grenier)

Eva Cassidy, guitar, keyboards, vocals, producer, arranger
Chris Biondo, bass, rhythm guitar, producer, drum programming
Dan Cassidy, violin
Hilton Felton, organ
John Gillespie, organ
Keith Grimes, lead electric guitar
Raice McLeod, drums
Larry Melton, upright bass
Mike Stein, violin
Chris Walker, trumpet
Lenny Williams, piano
Kent Wood, organ, producer

Produced by Eva Cassidy, Chris Biondo

Digitally remastered

Eva Cassidy
Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 in Washington, DC – November 2, 1996 in Bowie, Maryland) was an American vocalist described by the British newspaper The Guardian as “one of the greatest voices of her generation.” She had a diverse repertoire of jazz, blues, folk, gospel and pop. Cassidy remained virtually unknown outside of her native Washington, DC, when she died of melanoma (which had spread to her bones) in 1996. Her posthumously released recordings have since sold in excess of 12 million copies, and in early 2001 the compilation album Songbird reached #1 on the UK album charts.

Eva Cassidy was the third of four children born to Hugh and Barbara Cassidy. From an early age, she displayed artistic and musical talent. When she was nine years old, her father taught her to play the guitar, and she began to play and sing at family gatherings.

While a student at Bowie High School, she did sing with a local band, called Stonehenge, and received considerable praise.

At the age of eighteen, Cassidy began her professional career, singing and playing guitar in a Washington, D.C., area band, called Easy Street. This band performed in a variety of styles, at weddings, corporate parties, and pubs.

During the summer of 1983, Cassidy sang and played guitar, six days per week, at Wild World, in Maryland. Her brother Dan was also a member of this working band.

Throughout the 1980s, Cassidy worked with a number of other bands, including the soul and Motown-oriented band The Honeybees, and the techno-pop band Characters Without Names, later called Method Actor.

During this period, Cassidy also worked as a propagator at a plant nursery and as a furniture painter in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1986, she met (bassist and recording engineer) Chris Biondo, who encouraged her and helped her find work as a backup singer for various acts. In 1990, Biondo and Cassidy hired the so-called “Eva Cassidy Band”, composed of Chris Biondo, Lenny Williams, Keith Grimes and Raice McLeod, and she began to perform frequently in the Washington area.

In 1992, Biondo played a tape of Cassidy’s voice for Chuck Brown. Best known as the “Godfather of Go-go”, Brown is also a jazz and blues vocalist. This led to the first commercial recording of Cassidy, the duet album with Chuck Brown, The Other Side; which featured performances of classic songs such as “Fever”, Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” and Cassidy’s signature tune “Over the Rainbow”. The album was released and distributed by Liaison Records, the label that also released Brown’s Go-go albums. The duet CD attracted the attention of various record companies, but the offers all required Cassidy to pigeonhole herself within a single style (e.g., pop or jazz), something she adamantly refused to do.

In 1993 Eva Cassidy was first honored by the Washington area music community when she was awarded two Wammie awards for “Female Vocalist Roots /Traditional R&B” and “Vocalist Jazz/Traditional.” The next year she was chosen to perform for the awards ceremony.

In January 1996, Cassidy recorded the album Live at Blues Alley, about which The Washington Post later commented that “she could sing anything and make it sound like the only music that mattered”. Cassidy was unhappy with her singing on the album, because she had a bad cold on the night of the recording; she began recording a studio album which was eventually released as Eva by Heart posthumously in 1997.

During a promotional event for the Live at Blues Alley CD in July 1996, Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting murals. The pain persisted, and, a few weeks later, Cassidy was diagnosed with melanoma. By the time of her diagnosis, the cancer had spread throughout her body. Cassidy’s health rapidly deteriorated, and her final performance was in September 1996. At the performance, she had used a walker to reach the stage, sang “What a Wonderful World” in front of an audience of friends, and was subsequently admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Eva Cassidy died on November 2, 1996, at the age of 33. She was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Washington Area Music Association.

This album contains no booklet.