Time After Time

The enduring legend of EVA CASSIDY. By Michael Heatley

When Terry Wogan’s Radio 2 show played a played a studio-created duet between Eva Cassidy and Katie Melua of What A Wonderful World on his Radio 2 show last December, declaring it to be his choice for Christmas No 1, he added yet another footnote to one of modern pop’s most unusual stories.

Melua, the most successful female singer in Britain in 2004 and 2005, had already written a song about her late idol, so the pairing had a certain logic. The British Red Cross were certainly happy, as profits from sales of the single would benefit their cause. And, indeed, the record did become the big Christmas seller (and download), before being displaced by the wretched X-Factor winner…

Cassidy’s story is both heartwarming and fascinating. Heartwarming, because while she released only two albums on small local labels in the Washington DC area during her lifetime (she lost her fight against cancer in November 1996 at the age of 33), her music has now enriched the lives of millions. And fascinating because two men in particular have invested much time and effort into ensuring her work is not only popularised but treated with the respect it deserves.

Bill Straw, MD of Hollywood indie label Blix Street Records, was the man who ‘discovered’ Cassidy, receiving a demo tape …

by Michael Heatley
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