Remembering Eva Cassidy who died in 1996

 

EVA CASSIDY DIES AT 33

Claudia Levy, Washington Post, November 6, 1996

Eva Cassidy, 33, an award-winning jazz and blues singer and acoustic guitarist whose first solo recording, "Live at Blues Alley," was described by a newspaper critic as "an unqualified triumph" when it was released this year, died of cancer Nov. 2 at her home in Bowie.

Regarded as an up-and-coming young singer whose voice ranged from electrifyingly piercing to smokily intimate, Miss Cassidy performed at local clubs, toured nationally with the jazz group Pieces of a Dream and won five Washington Area Music Association awards (Wammies) for traditional jazz and rock singing. She recorded with Chuck Brown, the godfather of go-go music.

Joel Siegel, of the Washington City Paper, said her solo recording was one of the "most arresting vocal collections in years."

After Miss Cassidy's cancer was diagnosed this year, FM radio stations WPFW and WDCU devoted shows to her work, and benefits were staged to help her raise money for treatment. At a recent benefit and tribute held for her at the Bayou, at which a dozen musicians performed, she was given an honorary gold record from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Jazz saxophonist Ron Holloway described Miss Cassidy as having "an unusual amount of feeling and soulfulness in her voice, and that comes from inside her." Brown, her frequent musical partner, said that on first hearing her voice, he was impressed with its sweet, golden and mellow qualities.

Miss Cassidy, who was born in Washington and raised in Oxon Hill and Bowie, began singing and playing guitar as a child, appearing with family members at local functions. She began her professional career at the Black Pawn Recording Studio in Rockville, providing backup vocals for local and national artists.

Four years ago, she recorded her first CD, a collection of pop standards called "The Other Side," with Brown. Washington Post critic Mike Joyce said her appearance on a recording by Pieces of a Dream was welcome and heartfelt, providing the distinctive personality the band had lacked in the past.

Miss Cassidy was a graduate of Bowie High School and attended Prince George's Community College. She worked from 1981 until last year as a plant tender at the Behnke garden center in Beltsville. She also painted custom furniture as an artist for a company in Annapolis.

Survivors include her parents, Barbara Cassidy and Hugh Cassidy, both of Bowie; two sisters, Margret Cassidy of Bowie and Anette Kass of Charlottesville; and a brother, Daniel Cassidy of Iceland.

Cassidy's obituary

Her music