Eva Cassidy

Eva Marie Cassidy was born on 2nd February, 1963 in Washington Hospital Center in the United States to Barbara and Hugh Cassidy. Eva grew up with her siblings, Anette, Margaret and Dan, in Bowie, Maryland. The Cassidy family was very musical. From an early age, Eva could master harmonies and first learned the auto-harp but later went on to learn the acoustic guitar. It wasn't just music at which she excelled, she was also a very talented artist. Through her teens, alongside her brother, Eva performed in a high school band called "Stonehenge". Some of the members from "Stonehenge" later worked with her on her later recordings. Though an musician, Eva also worked at a tree nursery, called Behnke's. While recording an album in 1987, alongside ex-Stonehenge musician, Ned Judy, Eva sang vocals for Method Actor. Songs written by David Christopher (formerly known as David Lourim). It was through these recording sessions that she met music producer, Chris Biondo. She made eight albums in total. The Other Side (Duet With Chuck Brown), Live At Blues Alley, Eva By Heart, Songbird, Time After Time, Imagine, American Tune and Method Actor. But tragedy struck on November 2nd, 1996, when she died of melanoma (skin cancer) after a long battle with the disease. It was after Eva's death that her albums became really successful. It was in 1997, that Paul Walters, a producer for BBC Radio 2 discovered her, and it was "Over The Rainbow" that was played on Terry Wogan's show and ultimately led to the release of the "Songbird" album, which by late 2000 achieved Gold and, by 2001, platinum. Eva's songs have brought solace to those who have lost loved ones, and her songs have been used for cancer research adverts and have been used in Love Actually (2003) and Maid in Manhattan (2002).