Recently, I rediscovered an amazing talent named Eva Cassidy. She was (and remains) as hard to classify and categorize as ever. She had a beautiful, angelic voice that felt right at home with folk, blues, jazz, and just about any other genre of music you can think of.

She was adamantly true to her vision of music, unwilling to compromise for the sake of record deals and popularity. She remained in obscurity during her lifetime and only attained to stardom and fame after her untimely passing at t he age of 33 from cancer.

She is known for the recordings of her concert at Blues Alley from 1996. Sadly, she would pass away 10 months later, never knowing the full impact of her music. In 2001, one of her albums unexpectedly reached #1 on the charts in Britain.

Her music was pure and honest, without any gimmickry or auto-tune or overdubs or anything that smacked of fake. Her vocal range was incredible and she had the ability to belt or to sing softly and sweetly. Either way, her voice was mesmerizing.

If you want, you can go to Youtube and type in Eva Cassidy. It will bring up videos of her live recordings as well as most of her studio output. Regretfully, there’s not a lot out there, but what exists is beautiful.

Thank you, Eva, for sharing your gift with us. We are better people for it.