ARTICLES ABOUT EVA, PART 2

An Archive Page



RECENT ARTICLES & REVIEWS

In reverse chronological order, more-or-less.  For the VERY newest, see the "What's New" page.

Note:  Journalists please heed:  Many of these articles contain factual errors.  I have compiled a list of the most common errors at the bottom of the "Questions and Answers" page.


United States flagEVA IS MENTIONED IN PEOPLE MAGAZINE: John writes, "In the latest People magazine, [country music singing star] Martina McBride is asked what music she is listening to -- the last one she mentioned was Songbird by Eva Cassidy. She said she has bought 50 or 60 copies and given them as presents. She said she loves how Eva feelings come through her music. That's not exactly the way she says it but close. It is the May 7 issue of People with "The 100 Most Beautiful People", with Drew Barrymore on the cover. The Martina McBride part is on page 50 bottom left side. Hope you read it." (I guess Martina doesn't find the album lugubrious! -- LB) (Added May 5, 2007)


US FlagARCH CAMPBELL INTERVIEW WITH EVA'S PARENTS: Eva's sister Margret tells me, "Arch Campbell of NEWS 4 (Washington) met with Mom and Dad at their house. Mom told me the meeting/interview went very well, and everyone had a lovely time. They were able to focus some attention on Eva's original artwork, too!" This interview will be shown on Channel 4 in the Washington DC area on November 2 between 6:30 and 6:45 PM, according to Anette Cassidy. As far as I know this will not be available via the Internet. **UPDATE: If you weren't able to watch Arch Campbell's local news story about Eva, you can read about it here. No pictures, though. (November 3, 2006)


Radio imageRADIO NOTES: Eva Cassidy is listed among the "Top Artists of 2006," compiled by Richard Gillmann from FOLKDJ-L radio playlists (based on 154719 airplays from 189 different DJs). Eva is #220 on the list this year. One of the Folk DJs who will be sorely missed is Susanne Millsaps (see below). I am sorry to report that "Valley Folk," another outstanding radio program that often featured Eva's music has been cancelled. Susan Forbes Hanson, the "Folk Czarina," will no longer be carried on WFCR-Amherst. Fortunately Susan can still be heard on WHUS in Storrs, CT. If you happen to be a WFCR listener, why not complain? (Updated January 16, 2007)


Radio STATISTICS FROM THE FOLK DJs: Eva's name appears in the FOLKDJ-L listing of "Top Artists of 2005." She is number 108 on the list this time. The album SONGBIRD ranked 285 and IMAGINE was ranked 332 in the "Top Albums of 2005" category. The ballad "Fields of Gold" from SONGBIRD and LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY was the most-played song on the folk radio stations this past year, ranked at 232. These lists are compiled by Richard Gillmann of KBCS-FM based on playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L. (Added January 26, 2006)


Behnke Nurseries EXCELLENT NEW ARTICLE ABOUT EVA: The "Holiday 2005" issue of GardeNews, the newsletter/magazine issued by the Behnke Nurseries, contains a wonderful reminiscence about Eva Cassidy, "Eva Cassidy's Day Job," written by her friend and co-worker Larry Hurley. Larry and GardeNews editor Lori Hicks have kindly given me permission to post it on this site as a PDF file. Click here to view it with an Adobe Acrobat reader. To read it on the Behnkes site, click here. The photos were taken by Larry Hurley also. (For more about Larry, click here to read an article about him from a past GardeNews issue.) (Added November 7, 2005)


US CATHY FINK AND MARCY MARXER TALK ABOUT EVA ON THE RADIO: Agent Steve in York loves to listen to WUMB-Boston on the Internet. WUMB is the only full time folk music radio station in the USA! Recently he tuned in to a program called "Guest Mix" where the featured artists were Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. 'The interviewer had Cathy and Marcy speaking about their music and the musicians who have influenced them. Of course Tom Paxton figured in all this. Various songs from C&M and others were included. Near the end they spoke about Grace [Griffith] and her illness and how she lectures on the subject. They also spoke about how Grace brought Eva to the attention of the record label and how earlier, Eva saw her musical direction being along the lines of the folk music which Grace performed and less of the jazz, etc. They finished off with a recorded song from Grace and "How Can I keep from Singing" from Eva.' (Added October 18, 2005)


Amazon.comEVA IS IN THE AMAZON TOP FIVE "HALL OF FAME": The on-line retail giant Amazon.com is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month, and has listed its top bestselling artists and authors. Eva Cassidy is their #4 all-time bestseller! This is very exciting news, though not really a surprise. Joel Topcik of the New York Times pointed out that "Eva Trumps Elvis" and wrote, "...A few of the results might have been surprising - Enya at No. 8? - but all the names on the list were recognizable stars. Except one: No. 5, Eva Cassidy. Cassidy was an angelic-voiced but little-known singer whose death from cancer at 33, in 1996, inspired a phenomenal demand for her renditions of songbook standards, jazz and gospel, leading to six posthumous albums culled from unreleased recordings. She's not necessarily out of place on Amazon's list, which skews wildly toward white pop-rock (the only solo black artist is Ray Charles at No. 23) and hardly reflects album sales beyond Amazon. But ahead of Bob Dylan (No. 9), Bruce Springsteen (No. 12) and Elvis (No. 25)? The explanation probably lies in the rise of the Internet as a tastemaker, and the explosive growth of online commerce that Amazon itself pioneered. The independent Blix Street label began releasing Cassidy's recordings in 1998, the year Amazon added music to its inventory. A word-of-mouth campaign, fueled by chat rooms and fan sites, began to seep into the news media, and by December 2000 two Cassidy albums had pushed a top-selling Beatles compilation down to No. 3 at Amazon, with three other Cassidy albums at Nos. 4, 5 and 7. Just how many CD's she has sold on Amazon to reach No. 5 is unknown; the company does not release sales information other than comparative rankings. But thanks to Amazon consumers, Eva Cassidy is enjoying an unlikely, and lucrative, sort of immortality." (Added July 26, 2005)


DVDDVD REVIEW: Doug in Pennsylvania found this glowing review of the EVA SINGS DVD. Elly Roberts of the Costa Blanca News in Spain writes, "A complex, shy and stubborn person, she refused to 'sell-out' at any cost - even for financial gain. Her sole purpose and existence evolved around her art: singing, painting and a host of other projects. As a child she had perfect pitch and harmony, later learning to play guitar. She never had any formal voice training - she didn't need any, as you will discover on this wonderfully intimate concert recorded at the Blues Alley Jazz Club in Washington on January 2 and 3, 1996; nine months before she passed away.

Backed by four excellent musicians, she casually saunters through jazz, soul, folk and blues standards. It doesn't matter about the poor colour quality and amateurish filming, it only serves to highlight her masterful interpretations. The voice is absolutely pristine; possessing superb timbre and control, holding notes with consummate ease. The gentleness on Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World and Curtis Mayfield's soul classic, People Get Ready, are juxtaposed by the immense power of Cheek To Cheek and You've Changed. Jazz songs like Honeysuckle Rose, is amongst her finest work. Her take on Cyndi Lauper's smash hit Time After Time, is an absolute and unparalleled treasure. At the end of it all we get Over The Rainbow. If ever a song was meant to be sung by someone - it simply had to be Eva Cassidy. This low-key concert is a must have for people who love seriously great music. Avoid it at your peril."


Radio 2004 LISTS FROM THE FOLK DJs: Once again Eva Cassidy is listed among the top artists whose music is played on folk music programs. The 2004 list was compiled by Richard Gillman from FOLKDJ-L radio playlists, based on 152312 airplays from 286 different DJs. Eva's name is #95 on the "Top Artists" list this year. On the "Top Albums" list, SONGBIRD is #237. The most-played songs from the album in 2004 were "Fields of Gold" (23 plays), "Over the Rainbow" (7 plays), "People Get Ready" (7 plays) and "Wade in the Water" (7 plays). Now if only we could get Eva's music heard on other types of music shows as well, especially in North America! (Added January 6, 2005)


USWHY WASN'T EVA MORE FAMOUS? That question was asked in a "question and answer" column about celebrities in the weekly magazine "American Profile." In the January 9-15, 2005, issue of the magazine, Bob W. of California asked, 'I would like to know about my new favorite singer, Eva Cassidy, and why she died so young. She had one of the most stunning, versatile voices ever. Why wasn’t she more famous?' The unidentified columnist responded, 'At the time of her death from cancer in 1996, only two of Cassidy’s folk/jazz/blues albums—The Other Side (with Chuck Brown) and Live at Blues Alley — had been released, and the 33-year-old was unknown outside Washington, D.C. However, she left a wealth of unreleased recordings that have forged her legacy. In 2001, she claimed the number one spot on England’s album charts and then became wildly popular in America. “Even though it’s a sad, tragic story,” says pop star Sting, whose song Fields of Gold Cassidy recorded, “it has a kind of poetry about it.” Cassidy’s latest collection: 2004’s Wonderful World.'


Australia AUSTRALIA VOTES EVA'S "FIELDS OF GOLD" THE BEST "COVER" OF ALL TIME: Kate writes, "Early in 2005 the local morning radio presenters on my favourite station (ABC 666, Canberra, Australia) asked listeners to nominate their favourite cover songs (ie, people singing songs already released by other artists). After a week's talkback and email submissions, Eva Cassidy's Fields of Gold was announced as the best - there's a very short item at http://www.abc.net.au/canberra/stories/s1286483.htm. I must admit it's made me a convert to her music!"


DVD DVD REVIEWS: You have to be a polyglot to be able to read all these:



Songbird cover SONGBIRD goes platinum in Europe - again! According to the website of the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the European equivalent of RIAA), the album SONGBIRD received its second European Platinum Award in October, 2004. The press release describes the album as "a poignant classic" and states that "Eva Cassidy left a legacy rich in depth and talent."


CD The October-November 2004 issue of the audiophile magazine and website "The Absolute Sound" mentioned Eva in a review by Sue Kraft: "Who else but Eva Cassidy [Live at Blues Alley, Blix Street Records] could have a sweeter, purer, or more perfect voice to assist in adjusting the optional “focus control” on the Tube Audio Design TA-30? (No one that I can think of.)"


LOTS OF PASSING REFERENCES: The critics at the magazine Stereophile seem to feel that Eva's albums are among the ultimate tests of stereo equipment. A search of their website turned up quite a few references. Some quotes:

'Eva Cassidy's "Cheek to Cheek" served up one of those moments that make audio worthwhile — something that made me melt into my chair with the sheer wonderfulness of it all.'

'The speakers opened a superbly clear window into Eva Cassidy's handling of Sting's "Fields of Gold" that was intensely communicative—it made me regret I had not come across this naturally gifted singer's work before she died.'

'On her Live at Blues Alley, Eva Cassidy's voice was full and luscious, beautifully focused and floated.'

'Eva Cassidy's "People Get Ready," from Live at Blues Alley, had an intoxicating harmonic and ambient richness.'

'I began with one of my favorites, Eva Cassidy's super show-stopping "Bridge Over Troubled Water," from Live at Blues Alley. The '989s rendered Cassidy as a solid, holographic presence right there in the room. There was an immediacy I hadn't heard before, that "palpability" that ST has referred to. Her vocal range, power, phrasing, pinpoint intonation, effortless control, and big dynamic range were all there.'

'The Snell XA Reference Towers arrived about the time I was swept away by Eva Cassidy. I had never heard a young singer with such range, power, phrasing, and slow, controlled delivery. It was easy to hear her pinpoint intonation, effortless control, and "dynamics that range from the opalescent caress of ballads to full-throated, roof-raising blues and gospel shouts" (from Joel Siegel's liner note). But it wasn't until I took Cassidy's albums to the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show and played them over different loudspeaker systems that I realized how key a role the XA Reference had played in my conversion to wild-eyed Cassidy fan. More than a few of the Show loudspeakers flattened her dynamic range, but back in my listening room, I once again heard the difference between her feathery touch on Harburg and Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" to the powerhouse belting of Penn and Moman's "Dark End of the Street." Listening to Cassidy's super showstopper, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," from her Live at Blues Alley, the singer was a solid, holographic presence right there in the room, conveying the rage and sadness she must have felt at the time of the recording, knowing that she was dying.'

Lastly, as part of a review of a Jane Monheit album, Robert Baird wrote of Eva's "Over the Rainbow": 'The tune's current renaissance began when the late Eva Cassidy cut an interpretatively wondrous guitar, vocal, and strings version in 1992. Without question, this stood alongside Garland's apotheosis in terms of the raw emotions that pour from Cassidy's way with the song's inherently evocative melding of melody and words. Thanks to a belated appearance on the British pop charts and a subsequent profile of the artist on ABC's Nightline news magazine, Cassidy's "Rainbow" has given those who come after a new high mark to shoot for.' (Added October 2004)


Peace EVA IS BECOMING REALLY FASHIONABLE: October 6, 2004: British designer John Galliano presented his latest collection of spring and summer clothing for Dior in Paris this week -- and one of the musical selections featured during the fashion show, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, was Eva's recording of "Imagine"! Maggie Alderson writes, 'If fashion shows could change the world, John Galliano's presentation for Christian Dior in Paris might be the one to do it. Besides being a moving anti-war protest, it was probably his best- ever collection for the classic French house. Divided into four sections, each presented with Galliano's customary sense of drama, it was the last one, opening to Eva Cassidy's poignant rendition of the John Lennon song Imagine, that came with the message. As Cassidy's version of the anti-war classic segued into Lennon himself and, finally, Madonna, models with hair and make-up reminiscent of the Biba-era photographs of Sarah Moon paraded by, wearing brightly coloured sweaters appliqued with the words "Dior not war" and "Dior for Peace".' Thank you to Hilary in the UK for spotting this one. Eva was definitely in favor of peace but not much for fashion, so I think this is very funny! **UPDATE: This same article has been reprinted in several "Down Under" publications. One of them was very slightly different: "Eva Cassidy's killingly poignant rendition...." I wonder what the critic originally wrote?


UK Guitarist Keith Grimes recently visited a middle school in Southwick, where he talked about his years working with Eva in the Eva Cassidy Band. According to the article in the Shoreham Herald, Glebe Middle School has a classroom named in Eva's honor. There's a nice photo of Keith with the kids. He probably felt right at home, since Keith has a busy teaching schedule at home in Montgomery County, Maryland, including at least one school.


Blues Alley Cover "Perfect CD for your dream hifi," reads the headline of this review of LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY in the Singapore newspaper. Critic Tham Chaik Kong apparently writes about stereo equipment as well as about music, and states, "...The CD that I used most frequently for reviewing audio equipment is Eva Cassidy's Live At Blues Alley. This is one of the rare jewels of audio recordings in recent years. Its singing, music arrangement and recording are near perfection." Go read the rest of the article, you'll love it. Here's one more quote, though: "Many singers, when they sing the songs of others, are not able to break through and are normally just mimicking the original singers' interpretation. So at best, they would take the second place. Cassidy is different. She is able to give the songs a new lease of life when she sings Bridge Over Troubled Water, What a Wonderful World and Blue Skies. Although these songs are songs of the mega-stars, and very well listened to by countless number of people, Cassidy's interpretations of them are so original and persuasive and would make one believe that these songs were tailored and specially written for her. Bravo, Eva, for this is a rare achievement only a few singers in the world can attain!" (Fall 2004)


Guitar Ken in Hereford writes, "I have just purchased the April 2004 edition of Guitar Techniques (£4.99) from W H Smith in Hereford, England. On pages 44 to 49 is Eva's acoustic fingerstyle arrangement of Fields of Gold. A CD is included with the magazine, track 14 contains a brief narrative and track 15 contains the complete arrangement."


UK June 23, 2004: Beware, this one is really really weird! The UK's Daily Telegraph contains an article about the celebrated actress and playwright Imogen Stubbs. Her first play, "We Happy Few," has opened in the West End of London, under the direction of her husband Trevor Nunn. (That's not the weird part.) Apparently Stubbs has also written "a play about the singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, a new passion of [Nunn's.] The resulting Beckettian two-hander, in which Buckley and Eva Cassidy, another dead popular singer, are marooned on a desert island, was workshopped at the Almeida." (Yes, that's the weird part.) I had heard a bit about this a few months ago and e-mailed the theatre company to ask about it, but never heard back from anybody. (The Little Fish Productions website mentions, "Imogen has also written a play (with music) WAY BEYOND BLUE about Jeff Buckley and Eva Cassidy to be directed by Trevor Nunn.") Therefore I now feel at liberty to state that I think this is the strangest thing I have ever heard of, but if anybody who knows more about the project can persuade me to the contrary, I am willing to listen. **UPDATE: Henrik points out that "Trevor Nunn is unquestionably one of the greatest directors Britain has produced in the 20th century," and suggests that I should try to keep an open mind about this play. I certainly would be interested in learning more about it, but on the face of it, it doesn't sound as if it would include a faithful characterization of Eva, who, after all, was a real person....


CD April 22, 2004: Here's a nice "Eva Mention" in a review of Diana Krall's new album. Critic Stephan Sullivan of the Washington Times wrote, "Her fans will love it. Jazz purists will hate it." The "Eva Mention" came at the end: "But if you're searching for a female vocalist who wails hurtfully and beautifully in a way that cuts to the bone, go get yourself some Eva Cassidy."


US Sandy in Cincinnati wrote to tell me about Grace Griffith's performance on "Woodsongs" (http://www.woodsongs.org), which is explained in more detail on the "Grace Griffith Page." Sandy says, "WoodSongs is not really a concert. It is a one hour radio broadcast that involves interviews, conversation and live performance, much on the order of Garrison Keillor and the Prairie Home Companion show. The show is broadcast live over the radio and the internet at the time of taping. Woodsongs was started by folksinger Michael Jonathon, and is reportedly the 'world's first weekly, multi-camera series broadcast on the web'... music history made by syndicated radio show!" Here's the Eva connection: Sandy tells me, "In addition to his other talents, the moderator of this show , Michael Jonathon has also written two books. His most recent offering, published 2003, is called 'WoodSongs Two, A Folksinger's Social Commentary.' If you purchase the book (which I did) you also get one of his CD's with his songs. The most important aspect of this book however, is that he has included a lovely chapter about Eva Cassidy.... (Pages 141 - 148.) He tells the story of her life in his own beautifully descriptive words, using the spirit and courage exemplified by her life to inspire other struggling performers in the field of folk music. At the conclusion of the chapter on Eva he writes: 'I can't help but wonder, I can't help but be moved, by the irony of Eva's journey. Could she ever have imagined, the day she sat in that studio and sang a few songs into the mic, that her voice would eventually be heard throughout the world when at the time she could barely even get a gig? Could she have imagined, the day she sat alone in the doctor's office after being told the news of her cancer, that years later a folksinger in a farmhouse would be writing about her life and music? Could she have imagined, the night she sang her last song in a smoky club in Washington, DC, knowing that she did not have much longer to live, that her voice would indeed become a great legacy and a brilliant statement for artist around the world? That's why we should never take our art for granted... Always do your best. Because you never know who will end up listening.'"


CD Here's a lovely article about Eva on the EFolkMusic.com website, written by Kevin Howlett of the BBC. Kevin is a wonderful writer and if when you read this you catch some echoes of what Terry Wogan said in the BBC radio documentary, it's because Kevin wrote the script! Thanks to Henrik for this link. Kevin begins, "If you love music, the kind of music that will enrich your life, then you have to love the music of Eva Cassidy."


January 22, 2004: This is great -- An article about Eva from PRAVDA!!!! As far as I know, this is the first Russian media mention. The article, entitled "True talent cannot be silenced," is written by David R. Hoffman. Hoffman, the legal editor for Pravda.ru and a resident of Indiana, kindly gave me permission to reprint the entire article on this website, which I will do after the Pravda.ru link has expired.


US EVA MENTION: Today's Washington Post "Weekend Section" (Nov. 20, 2003) has a major article by Richard Harrington about locally-recorded live albums. The first paragraph is about Eva: 'In recent years, the most famous live album originating from Washington has been Eva Cassidy's "Live at Blues Alley." It was recorded there partly for the cachet of being associated with one of America's best-known jazz clubs, and Cassidy herself picked up the costs for what was the only solo album released in her lifetime. It sold only a few hundred copies locally before her death in 1996, but has sold several hundred thousand copies since its 1997 reissue on the Blix Street label became, with the "Songbird" album, the cornerstone of her posthumous success.' Here's the link to the entire article.  As a "sidebar" to the main article, Harrington also selected A Choice D.C. Dozen of the best local live albums. LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY is listed first, with a picture of the album cover, in the print edition. (Note: You may have to endure a very brief "registration" process with the Post in order to read these articles. I myself dislike registries, so I usually claim to be a male born in 1929, living at the zip code of 20566, which happens to be the unique zip code of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.)


Sweden Great news from Sweden -- The long-promised article about Eva in the magazine Amelia is now available (January 2004). Torbjörn writes, "I have just bought a copy and started to translate the article. There are four pictures and almost four pages. It is a wonderful homage to Eva with as always some minor faults - but who cares? ...Amelia is the largest woman magazine in Sweden. It is published fortnightly. This edition was issued yesterday." On the cover of the magazine, Torbjörn tells me, is a photo of "a female cook, named Tina (Nordström). She is a TV celebrity in Sweden. Everybody knows her." On the front page it says "EVA CASSIDY / Read her unbelievable story."

Here is Torbjörn's translation of the beginning of the article, which was written by Maria Brander: "It started with a shaky amateur video. And, her voice, of course. After that we got stuck, like all the rest. Seven years after her death, Eva Cassidy has reached cult status. More than 350 000 records sold - just in Sweden. But who was, really, this shy singer, now acknowledged by the greatest artists?"


US HERE'S A NICE EVA MENTION: Jaimee Rose of the Arizona Republic writes about Eva Cassidy in her column "The Yes List" on January 16, 2004. "Jaimee Rose is obsessed with her Love Actually soundtrack, a Christmas gift from Mr. Wonderful. Or, more accurately, she is smitten with track six, Songbird, by Eva Cassidy, an unbelievable artist who died in 1996 from melanoma. Jaimee has decided that Eva's songbird is the most romantic, purely beautiful song in the history of Earth and has had it on replay for days (sorry, neighbors). Jaimee is now stalking all of Cassidy's tunes, and they're fabulous." Thanks to Henrik in Denmark and Don in Canada for sending me this link. Thanks also to "Love Actually" writer and director Richard Curtis for choosing Eva's song for the movie!


"Carrying a Torch for Eva Cassidy" is the title of an article which appeared in Canada's Globe and Mail on October 4th, 2003. Guy Dixon is the author. It's an interesting article based on an interview with Chris Biondo. 'Said to have been very strong-willed as well as shy, Cassidy refused to limit herself to one marketable genre. "I said stuff to her like let's do country, you'd kill in country," Biondo said. "Or how about this: I've got a great idea, something where you have a new jazz thing going on where you're actually singing songs that are more accessible to people because they are more simplified, you know? Or let's try the gospel thing. But one thing about Eva, she was pretty stubborn. She approached it the way she did because, really, her style was eclectic, and eclectic's the hardest because you have to be able to do everything," he added.'  Don in Canada comments, 'The "Globe & Mail" is Canada's national daily from coast to coast to coast. Perhaps this article will bring Eva to greater prominence in "The Great White."'


AustraliaAnthony in Australia has scans of two excellent articles about Eva, available to read through the links below. One is the "You Magazine" from The Mail on Sunday, the August 10th 2003 issue. It is an interview with Eva's mother which was promoting what was the upcoming release of American Tune: You Magazine Part One and You Magazine Part Two.

The other article is from the Sunday Telegraph in Sydney (5th October 2003). Anthony writes, 'It too was in one of those supplement magazines, this one called amazingly enough "The Sunday Magazine". The cover of the story had Elvis Presley on it with the title of "Dead Rich - When death is a good career move". And the title of the actual article is called "The Grateful Dead". It had a whole bundle of dead celebrities and how their careers have taken on a life of there own since they died. I've only scanned the first 2 pages of the article because everything about Eva was in that including the main picture that went along with the story. Click here to read it.


US Columnist Michelle Miller of the St. Petersburg Times in Florida writes that Eva is her all-time favorite singer. In her column on October 6th, 2003, she first complains about US commercial radio ("We play the same songs over and over and over again, all the time!"), then praises the alternative public radio station, which introduced her to artists such as Eva: "Tampa Bay's WMNF (88.5) played a few selections on its New Release Show, and I was hooked. I pulled off the road so I could write her name down, then ordered the CD online that day. Others who are fans of the late singer can likely tell you the first time they heard her captivating voice. It's one of those defining moments. One I'd wager hasn't happened yet on commercial radio."


UK September 2003: The London Times has a brief Eva mention today. Nigel writes, 'She's referred to in a review of Dido's new album. The review says of Dido "At her best, she has that Eva Cassidy ability to make time stand still." Personally I don't think she's a patch on Eva but I know what they mean. See the article at the Times website .'


Germany This is an article about Eva from a German website (another discovery of Doug's). Henrik says there's nothing especially new, but gave me a couple of nice quotes in English translation: 'Yet what is special about Cassidy is not the tragedy of her short life. This fact is not even utilized to boost sales figures; announcing a new release is all it takes. What is fascinating is her magically moving voice, her unusual, almost meditative interpretations of classics like "Yesterday" and "Over The Rainbow", which invariably make people cock their ears, whenever her voice is heard on the radio.'


UK October 2003: The new issue of Marie Claire magazine in the UK has an article about Eva in its "Life Stories" section. The heading is "Eva Cassidy, Voice of an Angel." Michael Hogan wrote the article. It's a very nice article, though there's not really anything new in it. Please note that the photo of Eva singing with a band is NOT of the "Eva Cassidy Band." The friends in the photo with Eva are Chris Izzi, Larry Melton, and Joe Knaggs. This is the second time this photo has been mislabelled, and I wish somebody would check these things.


UK The British tabloid, the Daily Mirror, ran a big story about Eva on Saturday, August 30th, 2003. The headline reads, "Eva wouldn't accept she was beautiful or talented..all she ever wanted was to sing." The article focuses more on Eva's personal life than on her music -- pretty much the opposite of the approach I take on this website. Here's a quote from the Mirror article, by Tanith Carey: 'Chris remains modest about his contribution to her legacy. He credits another singer, Grace Griffith, who sent Eva's songs to her own record label, Blix Street, for the career break Eva had been waiting all her life for. But he is angry at any suggestion that Eva achieved success only because she is dead. "Most people don't even know that she is dead when they hear her," he says. "If she is put on a pedestal, maybe that's a good thing." The fact remains that thanks to his efforts millions of record buyers get comfort from the songs he encouraged Eva to sing in the studio and in public. But there is no comfort for Chris. "Once, I craved music," he says. "But because there is no one better than Eva and no one can compare to her I can't listen to it any more." '


Sweden August 18th, 2003: Today's issue of Svenska Dagbladet has a big article about Eva, written by Harry Amster. Our star translator, Henrik, just sent me the article in English. Thanks, Henrik! Some excerpts:

Producer and ex-boyfriend Chris Biondo loves her voice but does not think the singer would have approved of this release.
- No, she was a perfectionist and would no doubt have wanted to record new versions.

Eva Cassidy’s career is a bit strange as her breakthrough only came after her death in 1996, when she was just thirty-three. Since then the shy singer has sold millions of albums worldwide and 80,000 units in Sweden.

Chris Biondo has a recording studio in his own house where he used to record local bands. In 1986, Eva Cassidy, then 23 years old, was going to do the vocal tracks for the soft rock group Method Actor. But she was so nervous she was afraid to enter the studio.
- I went out to her, and it got a little tense between us, because I was so direct. But we became friends during the recording sessions. When she sang her harmonies I realized that she was the best female vocalist I had ever worked with.
Four years later they became a couple and moved together. Their relationship lasted three years, but their collaboration continued even after it broke up.
- She became my best friend though it was hard to be friends with someone you loved. I wanted to marry her, but she said no and wanted to be independent.

How would you describe her?
- Her best trait was that she never wanted to say anything bad about anybody. She was considerate, very shy and didn’t feel at ease in a crowd. But once you got to know her, she was more outgoing. She never understood how good she was.

Was she really as shy as they say?
- Yes, instead of talking to the audience she would stare into the floor. She was afraid she might say something stupid.
Chris Biondo played the bass on the songs just released and remembers what a high time they had playing these live performances caught on tape, especially on those occasions when Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood sat in.
- I just couldn’t get over the fact that one of the most successful musicians ever was playing with us in a club with an audience of six people. It was bizarre. He really liked Eva Cassidy.

Does it get your goat when ‘The Independent on Sunday’ in its review of the record says that Eva Cassidy is an ‘incredibly talented karaoke singer’?
- Millions cannot be so mistaken about Eva when they love her voice. The guy who wrote that is an idiot, says an exasperated Chris Biondo.


UK Early August, 2003: The Mail On Sunday contains two articles about Eva. One is a feature story in the "You Magazine" supplement. The other is a review of the new album, in the main part of the paper. The review by Tim deLisle states, "There is more to the Cassidy phenomenon than her tragedy. Her fans are responding to that warm, strong voice, to her homeliness and freedom from industry varnish, and her excellent, wide-ranging taste...." (I wish I could reprint the whole review, but only quotes are permissible as "fair use.")

The "You Magazine" feature story carries the headline "For the Love of Eva: It was only after her death seven years ago at 33 that Eva Cassidy became a star. As her latest posthumous album is released, Eva's mother tells Adriaane Pielou that her daughter's success is thanks to her British fans -- and Terry Wogan." The article is based on an interview with Barbara Cassidy from a couple of months ago.


UK There is an article about Eva in the August 9 (2003) issue of the Weekly News. It's a wonderful article. I'll quote from Joe's description of it, since he expressed himself so well: 'Lovely smiling photograph of Eva on the front page of the paper - those piercing eyes Eva has!! - The whole of page 3 is devoted to Eva - the heading is "Tragic songbird moves millions to tears - Eva Cassidy's perfect voice captivated the world - but only after her death." The main article is devoted to an interview with Chris Biondo - with a photo of Eva and Chris and one with Eva on her own (the same one which is on the front page). There are contributions from Barbara and Hugh - Barbara speaks of her daughter "She was a very, very special person - but not only just to me - Now the whole world is beginning to realise it." There is a competition to win AMERICAN TUNE. The just turned 65 old TOG and his partner in crime Pauly have a contribution along with a photograph of the two of them - as usual the two of them do Eva proud and speak of her so glowingly - couple of great lads. And finally and by no means the least in my view - a mention of your good self where it says "Thanks to Eva's cousin Laura Bligh for helping track down this photo of Eva and Chris. There's heaps of information about the singer on Laura's excellent website - www.evacassidy.org."'


US Dave in Pennsylvania (yes, this time it's Dave, not Doug) writes, "Thought you would be interested to hear about a small write-up about Eva in the July 2003 issue of Jazziz magazine(page 23); picture of her, about half a column of print; the dates seem to be a little out of whack but they say nice things and have the quote from Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note. It's nice to see her mentioned in a major jazz publication; perhaps Jazztimes or Downbeat next."


UK Here's one from Paul in Wales: 'The June issue of Guitarist magazine ("the guitar players bible")includes a feature, GIRLS ALOUD, where 11 "fine female guitar players" are profiled. The article is concluded with the magazine listing their "Top 25 girl guitar albums." You-know-who is included for Songbird. The text reads, verbatim; "We all know the heart rending storyof Cassidy's posthumous success. but this album, with its' inventive and eclectic mix of superbly sung covers, is a gem. Over The Rainbow and Fields Of Gold stand out, but there's not a bad track. And Eva could play that guitar." Keith Grimes gets a mention as the credited guitarist.'


Australia First posted June 2003: Australia's Barfly magazine website has two excellent reviews of Eva Cassidy album, from critic Tony Hillier. One is of SONGBIRD, the other of IMAGINE. Thanks to Henrik for these links. Here's a quote: "I've listened to and reviewed a lot of music over the years, but few albums have touched me as profoundly as Eva Cassidy's. Cassidy's achingly beautiful, straight from the heart, crystalline singing has an emotional tug that is tear inducing; her voice has the capacity to send shivers down the spine and make the hairs on the nape stand bolt upright."


CD May 14, 2003: "Dr. Ink" writes a review of THE OTHER SIDE on the journalism website Poynter.org. "Doc learns here that white girls can sing with soul...."


France Henrik in Denmark found a new French review of SONGBIRD. Here is a quotable excerpt in translation: 'Whether she sings country, pop or gospel ("Oh, I had a golden thread") it is all filtered through her crystalline and clear voice to reemerge invariably polished and purified. But Eva Cassidy did more than interpret: through her incessant exploration of phrasing she reinvents the songs…On hearing a sublime voice one often says that it defies criticism, but let us try nonetheless. Accompanied only by her guitar, her achingly beautiful voice transforms "Autumn leaves" ("Les feuilles mortes" by Prévert et Kosma) into a devout prayer, changes the lead of Sting’s "Fields of gold" into gold.'


US FROM GRAMMY.COM: In the April 7, 2003, issue of Grammy Magazine, a feature article by Dave Helland mentions Eva. The title of the article is Hope I Buy Before I Get Old: Over 45 set look to NPR, PBS and, yes, the Wall Street Journal as tastemakers. In the first paragraph, Helland writes, "When Nancy and Clara visited Chicago, their hostess played Eve Cassidy's SONGBIRD for them; when they went to Borders the next day the clerk persuaded them not only to both buy all of Cassidy's discs but to add CDs by Norah Jones and Lucy Kaplansky to their piles."


US OOOOH, this is a good one. It's an article from UPI (United Press International), which seems to be a regular jazz column by Ken Franckling. The critic writes about how artists are "pigeonholed," then discusses Norah Jones's recent success. Then he writes,

'Lundvall's brilliant decision to sign Jones rather than let the voice find its way to another label -- or go unsigned altogether -- undoubtedly is rooted in the one that did get away. Back in the early 1990s, Lundvall had a chance to sign Eva Cassidy but it never happened because he couldn't figure a way to fit her into his jazz niche. So away went Eva, back to suburban Washington, D.C., dividing her time between work at a local garden shop, painting and singing songs she loved for a rather small but devoted coterie of fans.

Cassidy died from melanoma at age 33 in 1996, before the music world at-large got to know her. But a wave of recordings from the Los Angeles-based Blix Street label, including the splendid compilation "Songbird" and "Live at Blues Alley," brought posthumous success, selling in the millions, at first largely by word of mouth.

They showed that without a doubt, and without hype or category, Eva Cassidy was blessed with one of the finest voices of the 20th century. Period.'

The article continues, but I can't quote it all here, so follow the link and read it.


Belgium May 3, 2003: The article about Eva Cassidy is in today's issue of Belgium's national Flemish newspaper Le Standaard. The headline is "Eva Cassidy komt tot leven," and the article's author is Mario Danneels. It looks as if the article is available to read on-line but some kind of paid registration is required. Please let me know if anybody sees this article and can translate the best bits of it for me, or send me a scan, or anything! I hope Belgium will be the latest country to be "conquered" by Eva Cassidy's wonderful voice.

I have discovered that the Eva article is in the "magazine" section of today's paper. I was able to see the page layout here: Follow the link, then look at the right near the bottom for "DSMagazine." The article is on pages 22 and 23, which you can view but (unless your monitor is better than mine) not really read. The layout looks great -- I see that several pages from the Songbird book are depicted, and the cover photo from EVA BY HEART, and the snapshot of Eva and Chris in sunglasses in front of his studio in Glenn Dale, and a pull-quote that sounds familiar: "Ik ben Madonna niet, ik ben Janet Jackson niet, ik ben Eva...."


Belgium May 15, 2003: Henrik in Denmark has translated the Belgian article from Le Standaard for us. Thank you to him and to the author, Mario Danneels! The title of the article in English is "Eva Cassidy comes to life". Here are three great quotes:

'The success of the American singer Eva Cassidy is one of the most improbable tales of recent music history. When she died, she was only known to a small group of fans in non-commercial jazz and blues circles in Washington. Today her albums sell in millions, and British music critics consider her voice one of the best of the preceding century. And although a grainy amateur video is the only recording that exists of Cassidy’s version of Judy Garland’s classic Over the Rainbow, it became the most requested “video” in the history of the legendary music program Top of the Pops.'

[Chris Biondo:] "'I have worked with many artists in my studio, but I have never heard anyone sing as well as Eva, neither outside the studio. In my opinion Eva is the best singer that ever lived. Because she was a simple little girl with an extraordinary talent, but with a modest aim: to give small-scale performances in order to earn a living. She did not want to outdo anybody, to put herself on a pedestal or to win any competitions. She just wanted to sing out of her love of music, and then only songs that meant something to her. Look at photos of Eva. She never tries to look flashy, just the opposite. Her music and her art came from her heart; she lived a life in which the word “ego” had no meaning. People hear that honesty.'"

"Ten minutes after they had played Eva Cassidy on the radio for the first time, BBC had received more than a hundred e-mails. One person asked if they would announce it loud and clear next time they played it, so that she would not have to pull over. Martin Jennings kept pestering BBC television about Eva’s music. But Top of the Pops producer Mark Hagen was not impressed by the poor recording of Over the Rainbow. However, four years after Cassidy’s death he finally gave in. ‘We put it at the very end of the show, so that it wouldn’t be a complete disaster if all the viewers left’. The response was quite different: ‘We had never before received so many requests for a repeat; and as for the video, it was totally different from all those millions of expensive videos that you see on MTV: a little girl with a guitar who sits on a stool for four and a half minute and sings a song. In fact she does not just sing, she thinks the number, she feels it. That’s why she is such a talent’."


France April 11, 2003: Jacques in France sent me a scan of the three-star review of SONGBIRD in the current issue of the French Rolling Stone magazine. Thanks, Jacques! The review was written by another Jacques, Jacques Bremond. Jacques-the-Eva-fan writes, 'He concludes by these words : "In memory of a short-lived career, this album pays tribute to a real singer".'


UK April 9, 2003: Alan in Sydney writes, 'I have just seen the April/May 2003 issue of the British magazine "The Singer." It has a review on p.33 of "Time After Time" which it says has been re-released. The reviewer Antonia Couling says of the album "...one can only wonder at the woman's vocal brilliance." She also writes of Eva's "amazing emotional and spiritual level that so many have responded to since her posthumous discovery." '  


US April 1, 2003: There was a brief mention of Eva Cassidy in the Chicago Tribune on March 30th, in an article by Maureen Ryan, entitled "Music industry hanging its hopes on over-40 set's buying power."  (Their site requires registration, so I will not give a link.)  Here's the pertinent paragraph:

'Television may help the big shots reignite their careers, but non-commercial radio is helping a much wider range of artists gain notice. "One of the best outlets for approaching the Baby Boomer customer has been public radio," says Tower Records' Camacho. "An NPR feature on Eva Cassidy skyrocketed her sales. . . . I think that is one way we're selling music to a customer that is not listening to traditional radio." "Those things, I think, are money in the bank, especially for this [older] audience," Hochkeppel says of Jones' NPR coverage. "It's a huge and very trustful audience." '


France March 17, 2003: Ffran wrote in the Guestbook, "Eva was mentioned during a televison programme on French television today, Sunday. The report talked of the Eva "phenomenon", and of the millions of albums sold. I wished thay had talked a little more about her talent as the reason behind this phenomenon! There's no smoke without fire, so they say. And with Eva there is no phenomenon without a wonderful talent."  Andrew at Hot Records tells me that SONGBIRD was released in France this week. He wrote, "I gather the TV seen was a Sunday morning show on Channel 5, that's all I know I'm afraid."


US Late February, 2003: From "Voice of America News": February 27, 2003: Phoebe Zimmerman talks about Eva Cassidy in the show "American Mosaic."  The link takes you to a transcript of the program, which will be broadcast internationally on February 28th, 2003.


US Feb. 22, 2003:  Julie in the US writes, 'I received Sunday's "Parade" section of the "Washington Post" on Friday evening. Inside the cover page is a column entitled Walter Scott's Personality Parade. People write in to ask questions about celebrities. A man from Topeka, Kansas commented that Michelle Kwan often skates to a beautiful song called "Fields of Gold" and he wanted to know who the fantastic singer was. The answer mentioned Eva died of melanoma in 1996, before she was widely appreciated. The rest of the answer goes on to say that Chris Biondo promoted her work and produced her earliest recordings and that Bill Straw of Blix Street Records released "Songbird" in 1998 and that it went gold and had Eva's version of Fields of Gold.'  

Parade is a color supplement magazine that is distributed as part of the Sunday paper in many, many newspapers in the United States (including the Washington Post).  In fact, according to my publicist friend Katherine, its circulation is 36 million: "Parade is the largest circulation periodical in the country (which probably means in the world)."  


CD Feb. 2003: Here's a new review of IMAGINE by Christine LaPado, on the website http://www.newsreview.com.  "Eva Cassidy is a lovely gem truly worth discovering."


US Saturday, February 1:  "The Song We Choose to Sing" is the title of a column in today's Kansas City Star.  The author, Kimberly Morrow, is one of ten Kansas City residents chosen to be a guest columnist at the paper during 2003. In her debut column, she writes about how the music people choose to listen to can affect their world view. Eva Cassidy's music is used as an example of "strength of character wrought through adversity that makes the seemingly insurmountable entirely possible."  Kimberly is one of the interesting people I have enjoyed "meeting" through my job as webmaster here.  She wrote that she lobbied heavily for the Star to publish this column during the weekend of Eva's birthday -- thanks, Kimberly!


Norway December 2002: Henrik in Denmark writes, "Three journalists at the Norwegian newspaper BA have each drawn up a top ten list of this year's best albums. One of them includes IMAGINE as No. eight on his list and notes that "She died six years ago, but the records keep on coming. Eva Cassidy sings with so much empathy and soul that it could make a stone cry."


US UK LATE DECEMBER, 2002:   Four Eva albums are listed in the Amazon.com "BEST OF 2002" which is subtitled "Top 100 Customers' Favorites."  SONGBIRD is #14, IMAGINE is #33, TIME AFTER TIME is #48, and LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY is #67.  On the equivalent list on Amazon.co.uk, SONGBIRD is #16, and IMAGINE is #19. Those two albums and TIME AFTER TIME are all among the top ten "Folk and World Music" bestsellers on Amazon.co.uk. (On the Amazon.com bestselling Folk albums, IMAGINE is #2.)


US Flag Autumn 2002:  Do any of you live in the area of Nashville, Tennessee? A new Nashville-area music magazine, SHAKE!, has a very extensive article about Eva in their autumn issue. It was written by the editor, Chris P. James. SHAKE! is distributed free in the Nashville area; you can probably find it at music stores and libraries. Eva's picture is on the cover, so look for her face and pick up a copy if you live in the right part of the world! If you would like to receive a copy in the mail, send $5 to Chris P. James, Editor, SHAKE! Magazine,572 Janice Drive, Antioch, TN 37013 USA.

'It has now been over six years since Cassidy performed or recorded anything new. The only video that exists is grainy footage shot by Brian McCulley of on eo fher Blues Alley performances. There simply isn't the usual promotional material to get the artist out into the mainstream world. And yet she keeps selling more and more records. The fact that Eva was so studio oriented in her approach toward music results in most of her live recordings being presentable. They are not perfect masters but the mix is nearly always fine. "We were the only band I've ever been in where people told us to turn up," says Keith Grimes. Eva's voice is nicely audible above the musical accompaniment. Chris Biondo describes any imperfections as a miniscule distraction. "As long as she was singing good, the rest of it doesn't matter," he said. "And she always sang good." There's still a backlog of Eva Cassidy material. Among the recordings not released are these songs: "True Colors," "Ain't Doing Too Bad," "Next Time You See Me," "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," "Son of a Preacher Man," "Take My Breath Away," "Darken World," "Yesterday," and "American Tune."

'Many reviewers and columnists have claimed Eva's forte was her ability to sing jazz standards and classic rhythm and blues. Though she's fine at every style, her readings of gentle folk ballads show off a voice unparalleled. There's something special about the way she sang without affectations or staginess. But Eva knew when to throw in a lick or two. She delivers a sould and clarity to things like "I Wandered By A Brookside" and "Wayfaring Stranger" that bring chill bumps to the listener. "We saw Fairport Convention in 1990," recalls Chris Biondo, "and they did that song, Brookside. Eva's brother, Dan, is friends with them." Her version of "Danny Boy" is absolutely spellbinding. Eva's rendition of the deceased soul hearkening and comforting her lover who visits her grave takes on a haunting quality of spiritual power given that she is gone. Her brother's name being Dan makes the song all the more compelling.

'A new album, IMAGINE, was recently released, Bill Straw says, "because we need it to keep her story alive." He plans for more Eva Cassidy albums in the future. "There's still a lot to sort through and recordings of her performances keep turning up. Obviously we don't want to go below a certain quality. And we want to go slow, because once it's gone, it's gone." IMAGINE is the first Eva Cassidy CD to make the Billboard Top 200 album chart upon being released. Apparently the word about her great music has finally spread because the CD hit #62 in the September 7th issue and, after dropping to #105 the next week, achieved "greatest climber" status at #32 September 21st. IMAGINE was #1 on the Independent Album Chart October 5th. SONGBIRD has reached #1 on the Pop Catalog album chart.'


U.S. More from Nashville: As a follow-up to their major story about Eva Cassidy in the Fall 2002 issue, SHAKE! Magazine has several items about Eva in its Winter 2003 issue.  Are they perhaps a little Eva-obsessed, like so many of us? Not only are there some letters-to-the-Editor about their big Eva article, but also columnist Donna Lynn Rector wrote an article called "I Don't Buy CDs (Eva Cassidy Revisited)," and Vanessa Duncan reviewed IMAGINE -- "I now believe she had the most beautiful voice I have heard.... This is an important artist because the buzz about her music is under the radar. A phenomenon is taking place without the benefit of MTV and other plastic media vehicles. The message, that honest music not only exists but can have enormous impact, is desperately needed in today's weak popular music market."  In Duncan's review of PRISONER OF THE HEART, a recent CD release by Eva's friend Mary Ann Redmond, she wrote more about Eva than about Mary Ann.  ("'Eva taught me that no matter what happens, it's got to be real,' says Redmond. 'You can hear it in every song she sang.' Paying attention to Cassidy's approach and being influenced by her is a grat foundation for any vocalist. Mary Ann is fine in her own right....")  SHAKE! Magazine is distributed free in the Nashville area, so pick one up if you get the chance. (I must add that in the "Letter to the Editor" that I wrote, the editor inserted an unrelated sentence in the middle of a paragraph, so that it doesn't completely make sense. I didn't write it that way, trust me.)


NPR November 2002: My mother reports hearing a story on NPR on Saturday evening which mentioned Eva (along with some other singers) and discussed her new-found fame. Apparently they also played some excerpts from her albums. Did anybody else hear this story? She was traveling and is not sure which NPR program it was (I am guessing it was Weekend Edition Saturday.)  **UPDATE: It was "Weekend Edition," a story called "Director's Cuts CD Gift Guide," and supposedly you can listen to it here.  (It didn't work for me, but I'm having problems with RealAudio.)


Scotland November 2002: David in Scotland sent me a clipping from the Milngavie & Bearsden Herald containing a very telling Eva mention. It's an article about a young singer: "Schoolgirl Lynn Stewart got a taste of what it's like to be a pop star when she cut her own CD in a professional recording studio. The 15-year-old from Milngavie sang the Eva Cassidy version of Over the Rainbow, and got an insight into how records are produced after winning a fantastic Herald competition... 'I chose the song because I watched Stars in Your Eyes and someone sang it. It was beautiful and I thought, wow! I want to sing that song.'"  Thanks, David! The article helps me clarify my thoughts about the "Eva imitators." It's all a way of spreading the word about Eva, isn't it! Charlie in Norwich comments, "Seems like there's a whole generation of young singers growing up with Eva as a major influence, which must be good news. :-)"


Norway November 2002:  The Norwegian paper VG had an article about Eva by Tor Milde, based on a recent interview with Chris Biondo.  The article included some rather large errors, but that may be attributable to the language barrier!  It included a graphic of EVA BY HEART and a very jet-lagged-looking photo of Chris.  Henrik in Denmark translated the article; here is an excerpt:

Eva was very unmaterialistic, she was shy and humble towards everybody she met. She grew up in modest circumstances, she was not one to collect worldly goods. Chris is certain that she would not have been able to cope with all aspects of success if she had lived to experience it.

- She would have liked being liked by people, of course, but she would have been afraid of all that success entailed, such as interviews, promotion, tv. But she loved travelling, and she would have loved a place like Oslo. She lived one month in Reykjavik with her brother, and she was overjoyed when she came back home.

- Oslo and the pace here - look out of the window! Everybody's walking, taking their time, looking around. She would definitely have liked it here. There is too much rush and bustle in Washington.


US Jerry in New York State writes, "In the December 2002 issue of Esquire, the front cover indicates that this issue has a large article on 'The Best & Brightest' which is very interesting. On the last page of the issue, page 198, the article is expanded to include 'The Rest of the Best and Brightest' with a sub to the article titled (The Best and Brightest Dead People). Eva is written about and although the article is not in depth enough for such a person, there is recognition in a national publication which she lovingly deserves. The article starts with and I quote: 'Eva Cassidy, singer. Pretty much unknown in life, Cassidy has seen her career skyrocket since she died in 1996 at age thirty-three. Namely, seven albums, a biography, talk of a film, a number-one hit on the British charts, an adoring cult. And why not? Her soulful, melancholic jazz and folk music, appeals to a public, justifiably weary of rap-rock and teen pop. Bonus: She will never star in her own reality show.'  Please let your faithful followers and Eva's fans know about this article."


Danish FlagHenrik in Denmark has translated an article from the Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet for us. It was written by Allan Lykke Olesen and entitled "Man with a mission."  Thank you, Henrik, for this and all your expert translations!

"'The moment I heard her voice, I knew I had never heard a better singer,' Chris Biondo recalls -- an experience which most others who hear Eva Cassidy for the first time will find it easy to understand.

By and by their collaboration also grew into romance, but even though Eva broke their relationship, their friendship and musical collaboration continued until the very end of her life.

'I was with Eva the day she died. We knew she wasn't going to live through the night, and she died around midnight on the 2nd of November, 1996. But I had left a few hours earlier. I couldn't bear to see hear die,' Chris Biondo says.

What he experienced with Eva Cassidy has since made him give up his career as a record producer. 'For twenty years I used to get tapes sent from all sorts of bands and singers who wanted me to produce their records. After I have known Eva this has lost its attraction for me. It is impossible for anyone to be better than her anyway,' says her friend, who nowadays works as a composer for the National Geographic tv channel in the USA."


US flagNov. 3, 2002:  From the Hattiesburg (Mississippi) American, columnist Kristen Twedt writes about Eva, "'Songbird' arrived via UPS a few days later. It is an Eva Cassidy CD of some of the most incredible music I have ever savored. Her melancholic delivery of "Fields of Gold," originally written and recorded by Sting, claws at my wretched inability to express myself as the author of those lyrics did so well.... She belonged to the music. Her passion and honesty bolstered an incredible talent, which makes it all the more bittersweet that she was so good, yet she never knew the public success her recordings have seen since she passed."


Union JackEva's arrangements continue to inspire would-be stars: Several fans in the United Kingdom have written to me about last night's episode of "Popstars, The Rivals" on which Nadine sang Eva's arrangement of "Fields of Gold."  Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell apparently complimented her by saying, "You remind me of Eva Cassidy." Annie wrote a great account of it in the Guestbook.


Union JackThe UK newspaper The Guardian mentioned Eva in an article on October 31, 2002, misleadingly titled "Albums from the Crypt."  Critic Alexis Petridis discusses several posthumous releases, including the music of Jeff Buckley and Tupac Shakur as well as Eva Cassidy:  "Her posthumous success began in Britain, the direct result of Terry Wogan repeatedly playing her cover version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow on his Radio 2 breakfast show. Quite aside from any musical worth, that track became viewed as an encapsulation of her tragic story of a life cut short and promise unfulfilled. There's an undeniable emotional appeal in hearing an artist who you know died in obscurity singing a song about hope and a mystical world beyond everyday life. "  This article later appeared in Australia's The Age.


irish flag us flagAn Irish-American newspaper, Irish Echo, ran this article about Eva on October 16th, 2002.  The writer, Earle Hitchner, also wrote the excellent feature story that ran in the Wall Street Journal last month (click here to read it, if you missed it).  It was interesting to read a bit about Eva's Irish ancestry, and I love Hitchner's concluding paragraph: "Unlike Mariah, Celine, and Cher, Cassidy was no diva. There was no flash, hype, or compromise. She sang what she loved -- rock, pop, folk, jazz, soul, standards -- and commerce be damned. Now commerce comes to Cassidy, after death, her choices unchanged, her terms intact."


October 2002: Here's a nice review of SONGBIRD from JAM (Jazz Ambassadors Monthly), a magazine out of Kansas City.  Mike Metheny is the critic.  "Jazz, blues, folk, pop, tender ballads and soaring soul... you name it, Cassidy nailed it. Hers is timeless music that still turns heads and inspires hearts, should be required listening for any serious singer regardless of genre, and most of all, tells the evocative story of greatness documented for posterity."


October 5, 2002: An article from Australia, on a website called "The Age," is based on an interview with Chris Biondo, "Eva's biggest fan."  One of the things Chris discusses in that interview is how little money Eva earned as a musician: "She never, ever in her life made more than $250 for a gig.... More often than not, she would make $60 to $80. So she wasn't somebody who I would say was even middle-class in her earnings."


Doug in Pennsylvania spotted an article about Eva in a music magazine. 'It would almost be easy to miss the Eva article in the fall issue of "Women Who Rock" (with cover girl Tori Amos). The name "Eva Cassidy" is on the cover, all right. But the article is not listed in the index and it is, in fact, on the very last page. But nice job by author Mike Mueller, though; even for not having much that has not already been written. This is the kind of not quite mainstream magazine that I had to find at Borders. Even Walden did not have it. Don't know if this magazine has a web site.'


From a local Maryland newspaper chain, here is a lovely article by Christina Findlay entitled Eva's Legacy.  Some of you will recall that this reporter posted a message in the Guestbook looking for Eva fans who live in Prince George's County.  The article includes some great quotes from website regular Tony Lamantia and an excerpt from a recent Guestbook entry by Eric in Silver Spring.  If you live in Maryland, pick up a copy -- the paper has many names depending on the locality, but the Gazette publishes all of them.  In Bowie, it's the Bowie Star.  Something that was news to me, in the article: "A chance phone call with Cassidy's parents, Barbara and Hugh, clued me in to something I'd missed until now. On Saturday, Bowie dedicated its 6th annual Arts Expo at Allen Pond Park to its hometown star, and County Councilwoman Audrey Scott read a proclamation praising Cassidy."


The Hollywood Reporter ran this item on September 12th:  "Cassidy's 'Songbird' soars to platinum sales in Europe" is the headline.  It reports that SONGBIRD reached 1 million in European sales in August, 2002.


September 2002: The recent Wall Street Journal article was not available to read on-line because the Journal's website is fee-based.  However, critic Earle Hitchner has kindly given me permission to reprint his excellent article.  Click here to read RECORDING THIS WONDERFUL NIGHTINGALE.  If you're an Eva collector, you still will want to try to find a paper copy of the article, because it included a caricature drawing of Eva.  


September 2002:  Politiken, one of Denmark's largest newspapers, published a review of IMAGINE this past week.  The critic is Dorte Hygum Sørensen.  Knowing that I do not read Danish, Henrik sent me a translation; here are a few quotes:   "Her voice has gone straight to the top of the American Billboard 'Independent Albums' chart. In England, Australia and Germany, Eva Cassidy tops the sales charts with a vocal so honest and clear that it makes you shiver the first time you hear it."   Also,   "Eva Cassidy is so good that you actually become angry. It makes no sense that something so beautiful should die so early. This is something that should have been cherished while it was still there. This is what Eva Cassidy reminds us of."


Here's a nice one from Canada, courtesy of Todd, which cheered me up at a time I needed it!  It was in the Montreal Gazette on August 28, 2002, written by Donna Nebenzahl.  He typed out the beginning of it for us: "My heart for a song
Listen to an Eva Cassidy recording and you might never be the same

There are few occasions in life when you have an experience so intensely moving that words fail. Maybe the birth of a child, or a reunion with a loved one. So imagine my surprise the other day, when a grainy TV film clip of a young woman with a guitar, singing an old standard, caught my heart and flipped it right over.

The tune and the lyrics of Somewhere Over the Rainbow are very familiar to me. But I had never, ever, heard the song before. Because in this live performance the young woman sang in such a pure, golden voice and she so felt those words that her perfect pitch and unique styling created an entirely new song. It was impossible to do anything but listen, in fact strain to listen to every moment, like a heartbeat.

As she has done to millions around the world, Eva Cassidy touched something deep inside me. And I swear I will never be the same."

There was an article about Eva in the Daily Mail today (Friday, August 23rd).  Matt sent me a scan (thanks, Matt!).  It's an excellent article, based on listening to the album and interviewing Chris Biondo.   It's titled 'SONGBIRD WHO FLEW TOO SOON' by Adrian Thrills.  Audrey describes it as "very complimentary, with a beautiful picture of Eva."  A quote: " 'If she had lived, she would have covered every style of music,' Biondo says. 'And she'd have done them better than anybody else. All we got, with the recordings she made, was a sneak preview.' "   Also, in case you missed it, last Sunday there was a big spread in the Mail on Sunday colour supplement. See if you can still find a copy, from a news stand or a friend!  It is a pity that the Mail's website is so useless.


Steve Huey wrote an excellent and comprehensive article about Eva and her music for the All Music Guide, which you can read here.  


More news from Sweden, thanks to Torbjörn: 'I just found a review/article in our largest daily morning paper, Dagens Nyheter, with the headline: "Eva fascinates with her voice."   The critic is P O Tidholm. The Eva Cassidy story is told in short ending with a few lines about IMAGINE:   "But most of all Eva Cassidy pleases her audience, all those who have heard her and come to love her gentle interpretations of classical songs. On IMAGINE she sings songs by John Lennon, Paul Anka, Sandy Denny and Stevie Wonder. It’s a disparate mixture of songs which she turns into her own with her remarkably sure and sincere voice. Too bad it gets a bit bombastic sometimes. The instrumentation is not altogether tasteful. She is best solo with her acoustic guitar. Then even a worn-out song like Danny Boy comes to life."


From Joe in Scotland: 'Article in the Scotsman daily newspaper today by William Lyons: "Cassidy Tops Charts again - six years after her death" - Has a photo of Eva and details Eva's background and Eva's CD releases.'  Thanks, Joe!


Follow this link to read the transcript from the ABC (Australia) "7:30 Report" interview with Chris Biondo.  Thank you to Ross for this link!  A quote: "'I think it's a lesson for people that do music. Do it for the right reasons. I run a recording studio and for 20 years people would come and they would say they would do do this or do that because they thought people wanted to hear that. And most of the time when people do things because they think that's what people want to hear, they suck. Because there's no emotional connection with what they're doing. They're just doing a pantomime. They're not trying anything that means anything. I think if somebody was out there and they heard Eva and said, "here's a girl who went to number one, who didn't try to go to number one but got there because she sings so good and she didn't try do things because she thought that's what people wanted to hear." Maybe they'll do things for the right reasons, maybe they'll sit down and they'll try to really connect, or find good music, or sing good music."


The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, has a short article about Eva and Blix Street Records, which is now located in nearby Gig Harbor, WA.   Click here to read it.  A quote: 'As with Cassidy's other posthumous releases, the disc includes a brief bio; it's obvious that not everyone reads it. "We still get calls, people trying to book her for this or that," Straw said. "They just don't bother to read the liner notes."'  


An article about Hot Records, entitled Hot Sounds from the Shed, was in the Daily Telegraph on August 17th, 2002.  The article wonders if the Sussex village of Angmering will be "the new Nashville"!  The Telegraph also has a link to my website.  Here's a quote from Martin Jennings, in the article:  ' "We're an owner-operated label," he says. "We take great pride in doing a proper job, especially in distribution. We find out who wants what and get it to them the next day. I've always tried to stay true to something - that's why I think we've succeeded. I question everything, which drives everyone mad, but I think that swimming against the tide makes you a good swimmer." '


The magazine "Film and Video" has an article about the Eva Cassidy videos in their August issue.  The headline reads, Metro Broadcast Repairs Video Footage for New Eva Cassidy Single / "Archangel" from Snell & Wilcox provides new luster to rare video.  If you're remotely interested in technical things, you'll want to read this article, which Doug in Pennsylvania discovered.  A quote: 'According to Metro Broadcast's Technical Operations Manager, Mike Smith, "The Eva Cassidy project is a fine example of what we can do with Archangel. Viewers can now concentrate fully on the music without being distracted by the poor visual quality of the original video material. Moreover, it's a delightful, and poignant, performance." '


August 18, 2002:   From Laura T. in the UK: 'In the Mail on Sunday today (probably UK's biggest selling paper), in its colour supplement 'Night and Day', there's a big 4-page spread on Eva. The article's entitled 'Forever Young'. The standfirst reads: "Singer Eva Cassidy dies in obscurity, aged 33. Here, her partner Chris Biondo, exclusively reveals how he fought to make her album, Songbird, a huge worldwide hit. By Adam Sweeting." There's a double-page spread of Eva pictures and then two pages of article, also including pictures.'  I'm trying to find a link to this one, and Laura says she'll mail me a copy too.  Chris and Eva wouldn't have described themselves as "partners"... we'll see how accurate the rest of the article is.  UPDATE: It turned out to be a very good article.  See if you can find a copy somewhere, it's worth seeking out.


August 18, 2002:  In the Sunday Arts Section of the Washington Post, a review by Richard Harrington, "A Posthumous Push for Hit CDs" in which he calls IMAGINE "quietly sublime."  Here's what he says about my favorite "Danny Boy": 'The closing track, "Danny Boy," that much-abused sentimental ballad, is transformed by Cassidy's unaffected delivery. You imagine her singing it to her younger brother, Dan, resisting all the cliches that have attached to it over the years. It becomes not only listenable again, but unforgettable.'


USAugust 12, 2002:  THIS ONE IS BIG!  In today's New York Times, a feature article by Alex Ward entitled, "In Death, a Shy Singer Finally Grabs the Spotlight."  To read it on the Internet, you will have to register with the New York Times on-line, but it is free.  On the other hand, this is a newspaper that is distributed internationally, so why not pick up a copy?  The article is prominent in the Arts section on the front page, with photos.   Doug in Pennsylvania has discovered that the recent New York Times story about Eva has been reprinted in the International Herald Tribune.  If you didn't read it already, due to the registration requirements of the New York Times, read it here without that hassle!

A quote: "In some ways, the explanation for Eva Cassidy's popularity - all told, her records have sold about four million copies, according to Bill Straw, the president of Blix Street - is simple: she possessed a silken soprano voice with a wide and seemingly effortless range, unerring pitch and a gift for phrasing that at times was heart-stoppingly eloquent. In an industry where not much is simple, however, Cassidy's celebrity and the success of her records qualify as aberrations...."


UPDATE: The Alex Ward article from the New York Times was reprinted in the Sacramento Bee, the Baltimore Sun, and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.


UKAug. 16, 2002:  The British newspaper The Independent has a review of IMAGINE in today's paper.  The review (click here to read it all) was written by critic Andy Gill.  '...It's the folksier performances, such as Sandy Denny's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", and her soulful solo treatment of standards such as "Imagine" and "It Doesn't Matter Any More" that reveal Cassidy's natural warmth: her gentle blues inflections on the latter bestow a pained resignation, while her impassioned simplicity even de-saccharinises "Tennessee Waltz". '


Saturday, August 10th: There is a nice article about Eva in the Washington Times today.  The title is "Eva Cassidy's Rise to Fame," written by Stephanie Casler.  The article compares Eva's posthumous fame with the life cycle of the Phoenix.  A quote: "Almost overnight, a painfully shy, simple woman gifted with an angelic voice became a full-fledged legend, a marked contrast from her withdrawn life."


The August 3rd issue of MUSIC WEEK includes a photo of Terry Wogan, Paul Walters, and Chris Biondo, with a paragraph reading as follows: "Few people played a more crucial part in turning the late Eva Cassidy into one of the nation's favourite vocalists than Radio Two's breakfast king Terry Wogan and his producer Paul Walters. So it was a fitting moment indeed last week when Cassidy's partner and musical collaborator Chris Biondo paid a visit to the pair to offer his own personal thanks to their efforts...."


Saturday, August 10th: There is a nice article about Eva in the Washington Times.  The title is "Eva Cassidy's Rise to Fame," written by Stephanie Casler.  The article compares Eva's posthumous fame with the life cycle of the Phoenix.  A quote: "Almost overnight, a painfully shy, simple woman gifted with an angelic voice became a full-fledged legend, a marked contrast from her withdrawn life."


CDJune 2002:  Linda in DC writes, "All About Jazz is an on-line mag. I have noticed that they now have a separate Philadelphia version that just started. In the May-June 2002 issue (issue #2 for Philly), Eva's Live at Blues Alley is reviewed in their cd review section!"  The reviewer is Mathew Bahl, who wrote: "Live at Blues Alley is one of the three albums Ms. Cassidy recorded during her lifetime, and it remains a remarkable testament to a woman who had the talent to become the most important American interpretive singer since Frank Sinatra...."


cdScroll down a bit to read a short review of LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY: "Why did it take me a year to buy another Eva Cassidy album? Stupidity. Please, don't be as stupid as I was! Pick this one up if you like soaring vocals, vocals that can move you to another place."  Doug in PA found this.


May 29, 2002: From John in Boston: "Today, the Boston Globe had an article about the thoughtfulness of the head of Blix Street Records who had commemorative gold record plaques made (re: 'Songbird') for the manager of a Boston club and Robin Young, a longtime Boston media personality, both of whom had a part in promoting Eva's work after her death. I'm pleased that people from our city had a part in helping out."


Another discovery from Doug in Pennsylvania: An Internet-only article entitled "Follow Your Passion."  It's from July 13, 2001, but I don't think I have seen it before.  "Eva Cassidy had many gifts except the gift of time. That is all the more reason to celebrate that while she was alive she followed her heart and did work she believed in and about which she was passionate. We should all be so blessed."


flag of Spain An article about Eva was in the Spanish national newspaper El Pais on April 27th, 2002.  Montse in Spain found the link for us.  He says, "It was published in a supplement about books and music that comes every Saturday with the newspaper. It's an abstract of several things published here and there."  The article is by Fernando Neira and is very favorable.  No new information, just a different language!  


Guardian April 2002:   Hey, I'm in The Guardian ! Mike Anderiesz of The Guardian e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago in connection with an article he was working on about fan tribute websites.  It was in the paper yesterday (Thursday, April 4th) and you can read it online also.  The article is called "KEEPING THE FLAME."  The Guardian is a major national newspaper in the United Kingdom.  Mike A. e-mailed me to say, "Sorry for the hash they made of two lines which make it sound like it's a site about you rather than Eva - I can't believe they messed that up!"

Anderiesz quoted me a lot more than I expected.  One of the things I told him that didn't make it into the article, I shall add here, for the record:  "My website is not in any way responsible for Eva's posthumous success.  The credit goes to Eva herself, and to her producer and band members who made the albums with her.  I have also been very impressed with the efforts of Blix Street Records and Hot Records, two very tiny companies, and of 'plugger' Tony Bramwell who helped bring Eva's music to the attention of some discerning people at BBC Radio 2.  I enjoy working behind the scenes to help spread the word about Eva, but I don't think the website introduces people to her music. They hear it on the radio, perhaps, and are instantly hungry to know more. They look her up on the Internet and find my website. It gives people access to more information about Eva and makes them feel they are part of a worldwide community of fans. The people who fall in love with Eva's voice want to share their wonderful discovery with their friends. I call them "Evangelists." One Evangelist in Vermont has given away over 100 Eva CDs as his own personal promotion effort! Many of the people who write in my guestbook also correspond with each other via e-mail. It all helps the word-of-mouth."  


magazine cover April 2002:  EVA'S A COVER GIRL!  Alan in Sydney e-mailed me this morning to tell me that "There is an article on Eva in the magazine 'The Singer' from the UK. Published by Rhinegold Publishing, it comes with subscriptions to the magazine 'Classical Music'. I don't think it can be bought separately.The cover of the magazine has the picture of Eva from 'Eva by Heart,' but the color is faded.The editorial comment is all on Eva, and the article is 3 pages---mostly bio stuff, but all positive and what a good example she was."  UPDATE: Pat in the UK sent me this magazine.  It's a wonderful article, and I am asking permission to reprint it on my website. Let's hope!


NPR Spring 2002: The National Public Radio website has a multimedia on-line magazine called "All Songs Considered" which is featuring Eva Cassidy in its current issue.  The song is "Ain't No Sunshine."  It's a sort of slide show with musical accompaniment.


Union JackMay 2002: Matt's sister spotted a paragraph about Eva in last week's Sunday Express supplement. "It was a footnote to an article about that RnB entertainer Aayliah who died in the plane crash," Matt says. The paper listed some "Posthumous Pop Sensations" such as Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, and Tupak Shakur. Eva is described as "little known outside her hometown of Washington DC," etc. etc. (It would be more accurate to say "little known even in her hometown.") They used the photo Jackie Fletcher took at the Wolf Trap Jazz Festival, of Eva in left profile singing into a microphone.


bbcFrom Les in the UK:  'Radio Times, the BBC’s listings magazine, has a question and answer service for readers. This is an extract from the current issue:

Q: Could you please tell me who sang Fields of Gold as heard on the ice-skating gala after the Winter Olympics, and more recently on Grange Hill? R Cook, Colchester. A: Fields of Gold is from the late Eva Cassidy’s Songbird album.

Radio Times is the UK’s second biggest selling magazine, with a readership approaching 5 million. Grange Hill is a popular BBC school-based soap for kids."


flag of US March 2002: From Jonathan in Massachusetts, who was one of the very first "regulars" at my website: "I was browsing some US music charts this morning, and Eva's "Field's of Gold" has just entered the Adult Contemporary Top 30 most played songs at #29 with 140 national plays during the week ending 3/22. The source is Radio and Records, which tracks all radio station airplay. This could be a very good sign! The link is http://www.rronline.com/, then click on the 'Charts' drop down on the bottom left, then choose 'AC' from the list of formats. For some reason it won't show a direct link. She's now on there with Bonnie Raitt, LeeAnn Rimes, Celine Dion and Cher!"


Feb. 2002:  Henrik in Denmark sent me a link to a review of TIME AFTER TIME from Finn Smed Sahlholdt of the Jyllands-Posten.  The reviewer gave the album five stars out of six.  Henrik translated the review into English for me -- here's a quote: "One of the reviewer’s privileges is the experience of listening to records by less well-known or completely unknown artists and suddenly finding a shining star among the undistinguished mass. Such a find is Eva Cassidy and her unique voice. At home her CD never left my CD player during the entire weekend, and at work my colleagues pricked up their ears whenever her voice sounded in the room."


12/28/2001: Derek just alerted me about the "Amazon.com Best of 2001 Top 100 Customers' Picks."  He notes that "Eva comes in at number 2 (Songbird), number 13 (Live at Blues Alley), number 16 (Time After Time), number 51 (Eva by Heart), and number 70 (The Other Side)."  I doubt any other artist is represented five times!


Feb. 2002: Mona in Sweden found an article about Eva in the Aftonbladet (Sweden's largest newspaper) and Henrik in Denmark has translated it into English for us.  You can read it here.  "At a gas station amid an assortment of dismal compilation records and glitzy girl pop bands I see this CD whose cover features a blonde with a dark and somewhat shy gaze. The phrase ‘One of the greatest voices of her generation’ appears on the cover together with a few excerpts from reviews in big, important newspapers. ‘Dear me, this girl never got a single review in her life’, is my first thought, ‘yet now she is found at gas stations, and she gets reviewed in such prestigious papers as The Guardian.’ I cast a quick glance at a sales chart there in the gas station and find that her album is number nine...."


The Hagerstown (Maryland) Herald-Mail newspaper ran an article about songwriter Steven Digman on Sunday, January 15th.  Entitled "Digman Writes the Songs," the article can be viewed here.  


The website Musicaldiscoveries.com has reprinted Steven Digman's review of SONGBIRD.  This is quite an interesting website, worth spending some time in its exploration.  Digman tells me that the editor is considering expanding his section about Eva Cassidy -- you might want to encourage him to do so!


Jan. 21:   Today's issue of the magazine WEEKLY STANDARD contains an article about Eva by Matt Labash.   The title and subtitle are:  Earth Angel -- Five years after her death, the music of Eva Cassidy is spreading. Labash tells me that the article was originally planned for Reader's Digest but was scrapped due to changes in editorship.  I don't know anything about this magazine, but I'll be scouting for a copy of it at Borders tonight!  I assume there are some photos in the print edition.  **UPDATE: Nick in Virginia tells me, " 'The Weekly Standard' is considered a conservative magazine published in Washington, D.C. The publisher is Australian mogul Rupert Murdock (Fox News, Entertainment, etc.). The managing editor is William Kristol of the Sunday news talk show fame, as well as Editor Fred Barnes, whose talk show is at Fox. Mr. Barnes is conservative, a committed Christian and considered by many Washington insiders as an honest and very fair journalist, who calls it like it is."  As I have learned to expect, this article has a few errors.  Artist Margaret Haven offers this correction:  'I didn't "help Eva eke out a living."  I hired her for her skills.'

Here's a quote:  'Many of her paintings, which contain an ethereal serenity, also bear a curious motif -- a bubble, the size of a translucent beach ball. Her parents don't know what it means, nor do her friends. But Grace Griffith has a theory: "Bubbles are beautiful, transient things. We come and we go, and we don't know where we come from or where we're going. But we have beauty with us, and it doesn't last forever." '


From Sharon Weisz, publicist for Blix Street Records: 'Check out this week's issue of Billboard Magazine (dated January 19) for a Valentine of a review of the "Fields of Gold" single.'   A valentine indeed -- here's a quote:  Her take on the Sting composition 'Fields of Gold' is truly a joyful moment, a recording that will pull listeners close to the speakers, where they will accomplish the rare feat of not only hearing but also listening.... Just lovely."  The review is signed CT (meaning Chuck Taylor) and it appears in a category cryptically labelled "AC."  I gather that means "Adult Contemporary," which I would never have guessed!


12/30: The Times of London lists Eva's SONGBIRD as the #3 bestselling album of 2001, calling it "The word-of-mouth surprise success of the year."  The exact ranking seems to be in dispute -- Tony Bramwell tells me that "According to HMV stores SONGBIRD is the 5th best selling album of the year," and "According to the SUN newspaper SONGBIRD is the 8th best selling album of the year!!"   Steve E. found an article in the Daily Mail which lists Eva fourth: "While many of next year's heroes will be backed by huge promotional budgets, it is worth while remembering that one of 2001's biggest selling records was a hit without any hype. Eva Cassidy's Songbird - put together after the American singer died tragically from skin cancer in 1996 - was released through Hot Records, a small Brighton independent, and was outsold only by Dido, Robbie Williams and David Gray."  **UPDATE** The Independent weighs in on the "bestselling album" issue to say that SONGBIRD was #3 for the year.  


Jan. 2002:   Among the links recently sent me by Doug in Pennsylvania :  This Stereophile review of a recent Jane Monheit album (August 2001 issue) also has some wonderfully quotable things to say about Eva's "Over the Rainbow" :  "The tune's current renaissance began when the late Eva Cassidy cut an interpretatively wondrous guitar, vocal, and strings version in 1992. Without question, this stood alongside Garland's apotheosis in terms of the raw emotions that pour from Cassidy's way with the song's inherently evocative melding of melody and words. Thanks to a belated appearance on the British pop charts and a subsequent profile of the artist on ABC's Nightline news magazine, Cassidy's "Rainbow" has given those who come after a new high mark to shoot for.


From Steve in Yorkshire: 'The Songbird CD is #2 in Amazon.co.uk's "Top 100 Bestsellers 2001."'  Charlie commented, "Interesting to note that Eva is the only artist in amazon.co.uk's top 30 of the year to get 5 stars in customer ratings (other than 3 compilation albums)!"


EVEN MORE ARTICLES:

Click here to read some less-current reviews and articles about Eva Cassidy. Some of the links may have expired.