How Can I Keep From Singing?”
Anyone even remotely familiar with the recording industry knows that reaching Number 1 on Billboard magazine’s pop chart requires persistence, determination, and incredibly hard work. First you have to perform in every venue imaginable and “pay your dues.” Then you hope that a record label will consider listening to your self-funded demo CD. Next that label will try to pigeon hole you in a particular genre or style and maybe suggest a complete “make-over” in terms of hairstyle and clothes. You then have to hit the talk show circuit, appear in live concerts almost every night, if your manager can arrange such a tour. Life is not easy living out of a suitcase several months out of the year and fame is a fragile flame. You could be a one day, one CD wonder.
Now let us suppose that you were also a talented artist. In order to sell your pieces, you would have to find venues in which to exhibit your work. You would knock on a variety of doors until someone recognizes your talent and agrees to be your agent or promoter. Then, same scenario as the singer/musician above.
A young woman from Maryland named Eva Cassidy had the great fortune of having three albums soar to the top of the British and Irish pop charts, and she landed albums at the Number 1 & 2 slots on the Swedish pop charts shortly thereafter. In addition to her thriving musical career, her artwork has gradually become known and sold worldwide, and has garnered thousands of dollars when sold for charitable causes. How does Eva Cassidy feel about her impressive resume of accomplishments? We will never know, for she achieved each of these triumphs posthumously.
Born in 1963, Eva Marie Cassidy grew up in a loving family with three siblings in the Washington, DC suburb of Bowie, Maryland. Her mother, Barbara, a naturalized American citizen, born and raised in Germany, was employed at a nursery, while Eva’s father, Hugh, worked as a special education teacher and a local musician.
The Cassidys exposed their children to music and art from an early age. “There was always music in the house,” Eva’s sister, Margret Cassidy-Robinson, recalls. “We listened to the legends of folk music, blues and jazz from a very early age: Buffy Sainte Marie, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Odetta, and Pete Seeger, among others.” Barbara Cassidy exposed her children to various DC-area art galleries, while Hugh began showcasing the children in local music venues as they got older. Eva and her brother Dan, who now lives and works in Iceland as a renowned musician in his own right, took to music immediately, and from their teens onward, the two collaborated on a variety of musical endeavors. “We always loved each other and we always told each other that,” says Cassidy’s sister Margret.
In the early 1990’s, Eva Cassidy was becoming known in her hometown of Bowie and throughout the Washington, DC/Maryland area as a brilliant and skilled interpreter of standards from every musical genre imaginable. Cassidy could arrange and sing anything: folk, pop, jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, and make it completely her own. “I’ve had a number of people tell me that they liked Eva’s arrangements of songs much better than the original versions,” says Hugh Cassidy, Eva’s father. “This is especially apparent in Eva’s versions of ‘Over The Rainbow,’ and ‘Fields of Gold’ which differ significantly from the original versions in large part due to the way Eva changed the dynamics and pacing.” “Cassidy’s voice was distinctive,” said Bruce Lundvall, head of Blue Note Records, in a 1996 Washington Post interview, “not only because of its power, but because of its timbre when she sang quietly. It was so mysterious, it would just freeze me.” Over the years, Cassidy has been compared to everyone from Aretha Franklin to Nancy Wilson.
Eva Cassidy paid her dues, playing guitar and performing by night at night clubs, smoky bars and even one pool hall, while working by day with her mother, Barbara, in a local nursery - doing mundane tasks that earned her a living and brought her close to the outdoors and the natural world she loved so dearly. As she became increasingly recognized in the DC area, Eva auditioned for several major record labels. She was elated when, in the early 1990’s, she was picked up by Apollo Records, only to have the company go bankrupt before she could ever record with them. In 1992, she recorded an album of jazz standards with DC’s R&B legend Chuck Brown on the DC-based Liaison Records label . Cassidy began earning a bit more local notoriety. The CD was titled “The Other Side” but nothing truly significant happened with this recording during Cassidy’s lifetime. Never one to complain, Cassidy took the situation in stride, and life went on.
“Eva wasn’t all that concerned about making it as a musician,” explains Jackie Fletcher, Cassidy’s former roommate. “Eva could sing any musical genre well, and the record labels simply weren’t interested in dealing with someone who didn’t buy into the concept of being constrained to singing, for example, only jazz or only pop. Record labels didn’t know how to sell Eva, and Eva wasn’t interested in conforming. She was incredibly focused. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t willing to settle for anything less, even if that meant abandoning any hope of making music a full-time occupation.”
Eva Cassidy’s steadfast focus and unwavering convictions were linked to an incredibly innate spiritual awareness, both for the world around her and from within herself. “It is that unusually deep spiritual awareness within Eva,” explains spiritual philosopher Kathy Oddenino, “that allowed Eva to create in the way that she did.” “Like all of us,” explains older sister Margret, “Eva got bogged down in the day to day stuff, but she knew there was something more important than herself--something more important than merely going through each day.”
“From the time she was able to draw,” explains Barbara Cassidy, “Eva was driven to create something every day of her life.” “We had four children, and they were forever drawing, and they always had crayons and paper. When Eva was about two and a half, we could already tell she had talent. Even at that age, her stick figures already had motion to them.” “Eva was always drawing or working with clay or painting or playing her guitar,” Hugh Cassidy says. “She was always creating something.” Aspects of the world that normally cease to fascinate the mature human soul continued to bring Eva to a place of awe and wonder throughout adulthood. “Up to and including the time of her passing, there was always this naiveté,” Hugh Cassidy recalls. “It was charming; no one would ever call her on it. It was a kind of unknowing, a starry-eyed wonder at certain things being the way they were.” “Eva thought that everything and everyone deserved respect,” remembers Eva’s eldest sister, Anette, “and she was quite frustrated when the world was unfair that way.”
“Eva was always keenly aware of her surroundings,” remembers Barbara Cassidy. “After a heavy rain, Eva would be walking along the sidewalk, picking up all of these helpless little worms so they wouldn’t be hurt. Another time, on one of the lovely Sunday day trips Eva and I loved to take together, we were driving, and Eva began swerving on this little country road, and I said, ‘What are you doing’ and she said, ‘Mom, don’t you see those caterpillars? I can’t run over them’.”
“Eva believed that every living thing had a spirit,” recalls Margret.
It is not surprising, then, that Eva Cassidy’s selection of an apartment as a young adult went far beyond the usual considerations of reasonable rent and adequate living conditions. When she was contemplating her move into a house with Jackie Fletcher in Annapolis, Maryland, she first went upstairs to what would become her living quarters and watched the sun set through the window glass. “Then she watched the moon come up. Then she came back as the season was changing to see how the seasons changed outside the windows,” Fletcher remembers. Eva loved Annapolis—an historic 17th century town with many little alleys and streets filled with art galleries and small pubs featuring local musicians. Once Eva moved in with Jackie, her living quarters were transformed into a place of beauty and clutter—a combination of furniture Eva had elegantly restored herself and every surface was covered with small objects she had created. “Her place was always filled to the gills with little objects and projects she was working on,” says Fletcher. “It looked cluttered, but it wasn’t, because it was Eva in progress. I am filled with visions of all those little things, so skillfully created, in one concentrated area.”
Throughout her life, Eva read the literature of a variety of New Thought writers. She was especially taken with the work of Edgar Cayce, whose writings and philosophy were introduced to her by her father Hugh in early childhood. “Like me,” says Hugh Cassidy, “Eva was a firm believer in reincarnation—in the fact that you learn certain lessons in this life that you then carry into the next. She rejected any type of religious dogma.”
So the beautiful young woman from Bowie sailed into her third decade of life with a sense of spirituality, security and contentment which eludes most individuals of her age and generation. She eventually moved out of Jackie Fletcher’s house into a little apartment of her own. At age 32 she had still not achieved wide recognition for her art and musical talents but that fact did not distress her. She worked at various day jobs to make ends meet and performed with friends and local musicians in the evenings. In January, 1996, she recorded a self-funded album entitled “Live At Blues Alley” at a prestigious Washington, DC club, and in spite of her discontent with portions of the album, a CD was released in the spring of that year and began to garner Eva the hard-earned recognition she deserved. Also, in the summer of 1996, Eva indulged her passion for art by working on a series of murals in schools in the Anne Arundel County, Maryland area with local artist Margaret Haven. Life was good.
Eva was at the top of her game, and she was experiencing the greatest sense of joy and fulfillment she had ever known in her then 33 years. During that summer of ‘96, Cassidy began experiencing pain in her hip, which she attributed to standing in difficult positions on ladders in order to paint the large wall murals in locals schools. As the summer wore on, the pain intensified. True to her nature, Cassidy never complained. She did, however, begin walking with a cane, even during performances at local venues. The pain became unbearable, and Cassidy finally sought medical treatment. “When the X-rays came back,” explains Anette Cassidy, “that’s when all the bells and whistles went off.”
Jackie Fletcher was apprehensive when she saw Eva’s car pull up in the driveway. Knowing how painful it was for her friend to move from the car, Fletcher walked slowly outside to greet her. “What did the doctors say, Eva?” Jackie asked. “Eva had this very calm, collected look about her,” Jackie explains. “She spoke matter-of-factly: ‘I have cancer—melanoma. That’s why my hip hurts so much. They told me I probably have several months, maybe more if I do chemo and radiation.’ Then she paused for a moment, and then she said, ‘I’m not afraid of dying.’ Eva and I talked about the fact that Eva had absolutely no fear of death. Then she said, ‘I’m more worried about my mom’. And that was it. Very straightforward, very accepting, and Eva told me the news without shedding a tear. That was Eva. She was so spiritual, so secure.”
“Eva always accepted the fact that death is a part of living,” Barbara Cassidy recalls. And, as the time for Eva’s final journey approached, Eva wanted to learn the lessons of life that would prepare her for that next step. Kathy Oddineno, a spiritual philosopher who now works and resides in North Carolina, was brought to Eva’s bedside to answer the myriad of questions Eva had about the journey ahead.
“During one of our first Thursday morning sessions, Eva told me that ever since she could remember, she wanted to be a spirit. She always thought that she had to die in order to do that. I explained to Eva that you don’t have to die to be a spirit; that Spirit lives inside each and every one of us. Eva had also adopted the poor eating habits so many Americans select as part of their lifestyle choices, and I explained to her that we are chemical beings, and that what we eat is who we are. By the time she made her transition, Eva had a much deeper understanding of herself, how she got sick, and how to come back into a new life with her spirit intact.”
Eva approached the next leg of her journey with the same excitement with which she had always embraced life. “The more I answered Eva’s questions,” Oddenino says, “the more excited she became about the whole journey we all go through as human beings. She learned many lessons during the three months allotted her between her diagnosis and the time of her passing.” “As her time of transition got closer,” says sister Anette, “Eva wasn’t afraid (to die), because that is what life is built on. Eva learned about the unfairness and the unpredictability of life during those last months.. . . but there were never any tears.” Eva’s family and friends reiterate to this day a constant theme about Eva during those last days: no matter what painful procedure Eva had to go through or how much pain the cancer caused her, Eva never once complained.
“Eva’s family and friends rallied around her, and she was always so positive,” Anette recalls. As Eva Cassidy prepared to make her transition, her friends wanted to do something special, to let her know how much she was appreciated. “When I found out Eva was dying,” Jackie Fletcher recalls, “the grief was so horrific that all I wanted to do was to celebrate Eva’s life and to help her feel strength so that she would know how many people loved her.” On September 17, 1996, a tribute was held in Eva Cassidy’s honor at the Bayou, a large DC club. Many of Eva’s fellow musicians and friends sang and performed to honor her. “This is like a huge birthday party just for me,” Eva said with delight as she was wheeled into the Bayou. Every seat, including the balcony, was filled to capacity. “By the end of the evening,” Fletcher recalls, “Eva knew that people were feeling her music and she knew without a doubt how much her family, friends and fans loved her.”
When the tributes and accolades were finished, there was one performance left to round out the evening. Slowly and with a great deal of effort, Eva Cassidy made her way onstage, aided by a walker, but completely under her own power. She picked up her beloved Guild guitar and began singing in a voice so clear and strong that it belied the now frail spirit who possessed it. “I see trees of green, red roses too. . .” At this point, Eva’s eyes were the only ones in the house not filled with tears. “….And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”
After the concert every individual who had assisted in any way with the Eva tribute received a note that was designed and handwritten, with much pain, joy and effort, by Eva herself. The note, which depicted a heart with a smiley face inside, was printed with the words: “Thank you for thinking of me, and helping to lift my spirits. I love you. And God bless you a million times over.” To this message Eva added her own special message for each person. The funds raised on the night of the tribute were to be used by Eva for a dream vacation or to do something extraordinary which she might not otherwise have the opportunity to do. She did something extraordinary with that gift.. It was clear to Eva that she would never be able to take a dream trip. Her journey was almost over. She asked instead that the funds be distributed to several other young cancer patients she had befriended while undergoing treatment at John’s Hopkins Hospital. Her parents, Barbara and Hugh Cassidy, made certain this final wish was honored.
On November 2, 1996, Eva Cassidy made her transition, leaving behind a family who, ten years later, still grieves the absence of Eva Cassidy’s light in the world just as they did on that bleak November day. After Cassidy’s passing, something miraculous began to happen. In early December, 1996, one month after Eva’s passing, Barbara Cassidy stood in for her daughter and accepted the Washington Area Music Association’s prestigious award for Best Singer of the year. The recording “ Live at Blues Alley” was also selected to receive the award for Best Album of the year.
And that would have been the end of the story, were it not for BBC Radio 2’s Terry Wogan, who discovered Eva Cassidy’s version of “Over The Rainbow” and played it on his popular morning radio show in England. BBC’s switchboard was immediately barraged with phone calls. Drivers had pulled their cars off the road, overcome by the magic and pathos of Eva’s voice on the radio that morning. Cassidy’s popularity began to soar in the UK and other European countries, and led to the release of three more posthumous albums. In the US, ABC’s Nightline wanted to air a short piece on Cassidy’s surprising popularity abroad. Eva by then had gone to #1 on British music charts but was not widely known in the US. The Nightline documentary ended up encompassing an entire show and was also one of the most requested shows in the history of the program. It was aired 3 times in 2 years, by popular demand. Michelle Kwan chose Eva’s rendition of “Fields of Gold” for her Olympics performance and then traveled for a year thereafter performing to the music before literally thousands of skating fans. The Spirit of Eva was spanning the globe and bringing happiness and a special feeling to millions of listeners. By 2004, Eva had sold over 8 million CDs and her songs were loved for their message, as well as her incredible voice.
Eva Cassidy’s artwork too is experiencing worldwide acclaim. A piece of Eva’s original handmade jewelry recently sold for over $1,000 to benefit cancer research and treatment. Every day, newcomers to Eva Cassidy’s music and art flock to the two web sites dedicated to her memory and accomplishments. (evacassidy.com & evacassidy.org) These new fans discover a wonderful world of their own. “I know we’ll see her again,” Anette Cassidy says through tears. “I still sometimes feel her presence.”
The Eva Cassidy story is nothing short of a true testament to the triumph of the human spirit. It serves as a reminder to all of us that sometimes, even when bad things happen to good people, miracles can follow.
Hugh and Barbara Cassidy, Eva’s parents, attend Unity by the Bay in Severna Park, Maryland.
Special thanks to Hugh and Barbara Cassidy, Anette Cassidy, Margret Cassidy-Robinson, Jackie Fletcher, and Kathy Oddenino, for their exclusive interviews and Elana Byrd for her invaluable assistance. On a personal note, the author wishes to express heartfelt gratitude to the Cassidy family, Hunter Davidson, Tina Davidson, Pat O’Shea-White, Kevin Whisman, Elana and Joe Byrd, and to the members of Unity by the Bay for taking her into their lives and into their hearts.