''Songbird'' is a compilation album of songs by American singer

Eva Cassidy Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first albu ...

. It was released through Blix Street on May 19, 1998, two years after her death in 1996. Five tracks ("

Wade in the Water "Wade in the Water" (Roud 5439) is an African American jubilee song, a spiritual—in reference to a genre of music "created and first sung by African Americans in slavery." The lyrics to "Wade in the Water" were first co-published in 1901 in ...

", " Wayfaring Stranger", "Songbird", "Time is a Healer" and "I Know You by Heart") are from Cassidy's album ''

Eva by Heart ''Eva by Heart'' is the first solo studio album (third overall) by American singer Eva Cassidy. It was released in 1997, a year after Cassidy's death. Track listing #"I Know You by Heart" (Eve Nelson, Diane Scanlon) – 3:57 #"Time Is a Healer" ...

''. Four tracks ("

Fields of Gold "Fields of Gold" is a song written and performed by English musician Sting. It first appeared on his fourth studio album, ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' (1993). The song was released as a single on 7 June 1993, reaching 16 on the UK Singles Chart an ...

", " Autumn Leaves", "

People Get Ready "People Get Ready" is a 1965 single by the Impressions, and the title track from the ''People Get Ready'' album. The single is the group's best-known hit, reaching number-three on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 14 on the ''Billboard'' ...

" and "Oh Had I a Golden Thread") are from her album ''

Live at Blues Alley ''Live at Blues Alley'' is an album by American singer Eva Cassidy, originally self-released in May 1996. The album was recorded live at the Blues Alley nightclub in January 1996. It was the last album recorded by Cassidy before her death in Nove ...

''. The remaining track, "Over the Rainbow", is from the album '' The Other Side''. The compilation album was certified Gold by the

CRIA A ''cria'' (pronounced ) is a juvenile llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. Etymology The term comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, ''crya'' (pronounced ), was coined by British sailors who explored C ...

(50,000 units) in 2003. It was certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in 2001 and Platinum in 2008 for shipments in excess of one million copies. In 2018, a twentieth anniversary edition of the album was released, titled ''Songbird 20''.

Background

In May 1996, Eva Cassidy released the live album ''

'', which would be the last album released before her death six months later, at the age of 33. Near the end of Cassidy's life, local folk singer

Grace Griffith Grace Bernadette Griffith (née Sisson; October 30, 1956 – June 5, 2021) was a folk and Celtic singer based in Washington, D.C. She has been honored with multiple Wammie awards by the Washington Area Music Association. In 1998, she was diagno ...

sent a copy of the album to Bill Straw, the head of her label, Blix Street Records. "It didn't take a genius to figure it out," Straw told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. "The moment I listened to that tape, I knew this was one of the best singers I'd ever heard." Straw approached the Cassidy family to put together a new album. In 1998, a compilation of tracks from Cassidy's three released recordings was assembled into what would become ''Songbird''. This CD lingered in relative obscurity for two years until it was given airplay by

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...

on his wide-reaching

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

show ''

Wake Up to Wogan ''Wake Up to Wogan'' (''WUTW'') was the incarnation of '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' that aired each weekday morning from 4 January 1993 to 18 December 2009. It was the most-listened-to radio show in the United Kingdom, and the flagship breakf ...

'', following recommendation by his producer

Paul Walters Paul Christopher Walters (15 June 1947 – 21 October 2006) was a BBC radio and TV producer, best known for his work and appearances on Terry Wogan's BBC Radio 2 breakfast show ''Wake Up to Wogan'' from 1995 until a few months before his death ...

. The album sold more an additional 100,000 copies in the following months. ''The New York Times'' spoke of her "silken soprano voice with a wide and seemingly effortless range, unerring pitch and a gift for phrasing that at times was heart-stoppingly eloquent."

Chart performance

The album was originally released in 1998, eighteen months on from Cassidy's death. At this point, she was virtually unknown in the United Kingdom, and ''Songbird'' only charted in the nether-regions of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. Two years after the album's release, however, Cassidy's music was brought to the attention of British audiences when her versions of "

" and " Over the Rainbow" were played by

Mike Harding Mike Harding (born 23 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet, broadcaster and multi-instrumentalist. Harding has also been a photographer, traveller, filmmaker and playwright. Early life and education Harding's ...

and Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2. Following an overwhelming response, a camcorder recording of "Over the Rainbow", taken at

Blues Alley Blues Alley, founded in 1965, is a jazz nightclub in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Musicians who have performed at Blues Alley include John Abercrombie, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, Tony Bennett, Rory Block, Ruby Braff, Gar ...

in Georgetown,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

by her friend Bryan McCulley, was shown on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's ''

Top of the Pops 2 ''Top of the Pops 2'' (also known as ''TOTP2'') is a British television music show broadcast on BBC Two showing archive footage from the long-running ''Top of the Pops'' show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on Britis ...

''. Shortly afterwards, ''Songbird'' climbed to the top of the UK Albums Chart. It ended up being the eighth-biggest-selling album of 2001, and it has subsequently been certified 6× Platinum by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

(BPI) and has worldwide sales in excess of 5 million copies.

Track listing

Original version

''Songbird 20'' version

The tracks from ''Live at Blues Alley'' sound like studio cuts because Cassidy's stage patter and the audience applause have been removed.

Personnel

* Eva Cassidy –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, producer, arranger * Chris Biondo – bass, rhythm guitar, producer, drum programming * Dan Cassidy –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

* Hilton Felton – organ * John Gillespie – organ * Keith Grimes – lead electric guitar * Raice McLeod –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Larry Melton – upright bass * Mike Stein – violin * Chris Walker –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Lenny Williams –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Background

Chart performance

Track listing

Original version

''Songbird 20'' version

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References