I Can Only Be Me

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As soon as her vocal came on, I felt it was extraordinary,” he said. “By the time I finished the album, I came to the conclusion that this was one of the best singers ever.”

Eva Cassidy, London ‎I Can Only Be Me (Orchestral) by Eva Cassidy, London

ARIA Charts > ARIA Report > 25 August 2003" (PDF) (705). Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-10-06 . Retrieved 2011-07-24. {{ cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ( help) Even Straw believes one release shouldn’t have happened – the Wonderful World set from 2004. Still, he said, pressure from the public dictated that release. As to what Cassidy herself would have made of the sheer scale of the attention she has received, Biondo said, “she would have been scared shitless.” ARIA Charts > Accreditations > 2002 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008 . Retrieved 2011-07-24. RIAA Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on 2007-06-26 . Retrieved 2011-07-24.At one point, Blue Note tried pairing her with a smooth jazz band on the label, Pieces of a Dream, for a few songs but the singer despised the result. A more pleasing proposal came from Apollo Records, run by civil rights activist Percy Sutton, a label connected to the vaunted Harlem-based theater. “They sent her a contract which meant she could have quit her day job (in a plant nursery) and gotten a yearly salary,” Biondi said. “That was a dream come true.” Upon her death, Eva Cassidy’s voice reached global recognition with her masterful interpretations of ‘ Fields of Gold‘, ‘ Autumn Leaves‘, ‘ Songbird‘ and ‘ Over the Rainbow‘, songs. Crossing all boundaries–musical, cultural, geographical–her voice continues to find new listeners every day. “ She sang for the pure joy of singing”, her mother, Barbara Cassidy, has said, “ however, the spirit would move her”. At times, however, the subtlety of her approach, and the quiet intensity of it, could fly over the heads of some audiences. “We never played loud which was a problem for us,” Biondo said. “One time, we played this club in southern Maryland and we were doing ballads, country tunes and the clientele was into Lynyrd Skynyrd, so people were leaving. The guy who had hired us to play said, ‘How about I pay you and you guys go home?’ It’s never a good thing when someone pays you to leave.” Album Review: Eva Cassidy & The London Symphony Orchestra - 'I Can Only Be Me' ". The Music. 3 March 2023 . Retrieved 11 March 2023.

Eva Cassidy – 20th Anniversary Of ‘Songbird’ Album UK No. 1 Eva Cassidy – 20th Anniversary Of ‘Songbird’ Album UK No. 1

Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdfed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p.52. a b "ARIA Charts > Accreditations > 2005 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008 . Retrieved 2011-07-24. Official Albums Chart Top 100 10 March 2023 - 16 March 2023". Official Charts. 10 March 2023 . Retrieved 11 March 2023.Songbird‘ was Eva Cassidy’s first posthumously released album after she tragically died of melanoma aged 33 in November 1996. Critically acclaimed on release, the album is now 6x Platinum in the UK and has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. a b "Eva Cassidy > Album & Song Chart History > Billboard 200". Billboard Nielsen Business Media . Retrieved 2011-07-24. The title-‘ Songbird‘-was taken from Eva’s included cover of the Christine McVie classic that has closed many a Fleetwood Mac concert. ‘ Live At Blues Alley‘ and ‘ Eva By Heart‘ were both later released by Blix Street in the summer of 1998. The worldwide recognition for Eva’s music began with ‘ Fields of Gold‘ and ‘ Over the Rainbow‘ (the song played on BBC Radio 2 by Terry Wogan). People Magazine wrote at the time: “ Whether in jazz, folk, or inspirational music, Cassidy’s potential was huge, and this album stands as a testament to popular music’s loss”. On the other hand, Biondo said Cassidy “thought that was kinda cool,” an attitude that underscores her focus on the performance rather than its reception. “She just liked to go out and sing,” he said. “She didn’t want anybody to jump up and down.”