Maps of Music

Eva by Heart (1997)

Where the lyrics of Eva by Heart take you, and where it was really made.

Eva Cassidy was still working on this album when she died of melanoma at 33, so it was finished by a collaborator and released a year after her death.

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Album story

Overview

• Eva by Heart: album by American singer Eva Cassidy
• Released in 1997, a year after Cassidy's death
• Her first solo studio album
• Italian Wikipedia counts it as her third album in total
• Eleven tracks on the standard listing
• The European version adds one bonus track, "The Dark End of the Street"
• Completed by musical collaborator Chris Biondo
• Cassidy died of melanoma at the age of 33

Background

• Cassidy was working on the album when she died of melanoma
• Some tracks were already finished at the time of her death
• Other tracks were more incomplete
• The album was licensed to Blix Street Records from Barbara and Hugh Cassidy
• Her death came before the album was released, which is why it was completed after her death

Recording

• Biondo finished producing some songs by adding accompanying musicians
• He added musicians in a way he thought Cassidy would have wanted
• Cassidy is credited as arranger
• Biondo is credited as producer and as drum programmer
• Engineers: Chris Biondo, Lenny Williams, Kent Wood
• Remastering by Robert Vosgien
• Mastered at Uncle Punchy Studios
• Remastered at CMS Mastering in Pasadena, California
• Packaged in a standard jewel case with an 8-page fold-out booklet
• Design by Eileen White

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Artist

Career

• Eva Marie Cassidy (1963–1996) was an American singer and musician known for jazz, folk and blues interpretations with a powerful, emotive soprano voice.
• Her first album, The Other Side (1992), was a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown; Live at Blues Alley (1996) followed.
• She was honored by the Washington Area Music Association and won two Wammies in 1994, but was virtually unknown outside the Washington, D.C. area when she died of melanoma at 33 in 1996.

Posthumous Success

• In 1998 the compilation Songbird was assembled; BBC Radio 2 airplay in 2000 brought her music to British audiences.
• Songbird topped the UK Albums Chart, and her posthumous recordings have sold more than ten million copies.
• Nine posthumous albums have been released, the latest I Can Only Be Me (2023) with the London Symphony Orchestra, which reached number 9 in the UK.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic reviewer Jose F. Promis praised the album
• Promis wrote that Eva's voice always sounds crystalline and that her interpretive skills are unmatched
• He said she had the power to transform a standard or a traditional song into her own song
• He added that she could belt out the blues as well as anybody
• The track list mixes standards and traditional songs, including "Blues in the Night", "Wayfaring Stranger", "Wade in the Water" and "How Can I Keep from Singing?"
• The album also includes "Songbird" by Christine McVie and "Nightbird" by Doug MacLeod
• "Need Your Love So Bad" is a duet with Chuck Brown
• The album opens with "I Know You by Heart", written by Eve Nelson and Diane Scanlon
• Promis's comments focus on her voice and her interpretation of songs
• His remarks on the blues fit the album's selection of blues-leaning material

Records

• The source gives no chart, sales, certification or award records for this album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Cassidy died of melanoma at 33 while she was still working on this, her first solo studio album.
• Chris Biondo finished the album after her death and added accompanying musicians in a way he thought she would have wanted.
• The dedication in the booklet names Hugh and Barbara Cassidy and Cassidy Murphy Dickey, born April 23, 1997.
• The European version of the album adds "The Dark End of the Street" as a bonus track.
• Italian Wikipedia describes the album as her third album in total.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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