Eva Cassidy is one of my absolute favourite artists, there is noone like her. She loved music and had a gift for perfect harmony. But she never realized her own talent and she was also very shy and struggled with performing live...she also thought she was a very poor guitar player. These things made her perform just around Washington DC which was her home city. She was well liked there but remained anonymous in the rest of the states and the rest of the world. She was a child of nature and loved the outdoors, the nature and animals. Once she was driving in her truck having her mother next to her. All of a sudden she started to drive slalom on the gravel road. Her mother asked her what the *beep* she was doing and Eva replied, - I don't want to hit the catepillars.

In 1993 she had an operation to remove a malignant skin lesion on her back...she never showed up for the checkup after the operation. The following years she continued working and in 1996 she appeared live at Blues Alley. What the audience didn't know then was that she was suffering from severe hip pain, something she put down as too much ladder work. During the summer she got worse and she went through several tests and was then diagnosed with advanced Melanoma. Eva Cassidy died on the 2nd November 1996 only 33 years old.
After she died she became recognized as one of the greatest artists of all time and albums released posthumous were sold in millions of copies.

This album is her only studio recording and it is very good. Record labels didn't know what do with her because she didn't have a specific style but mixed with what ever inspired her at the moment and you notice that in this album. In her albums you get some blues, gospel, some jazz some rock some...

But what she is most famous for is her interpretations of other songs. Some might think that this is riding on someone else's skills, but her versions are so completely remade and with sooo much soul added that they are often better than the original. The first song I ever heard was her version of "Time after Time" and I was literally in tears. 'Time After Time' at Blues Alley I also love her version of Fields of Gold and What a Wonderful World which was the last song she performed live. This was in September 1996 and she got on the stage with the help of a walker.

To me she is 'soul' personified.