# Eva Cassidy - greatest singer you have never heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339 "2008-12-02T15:11:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/1 "2008-12-02T15:11:33Z")
Sadly Eva died in 1996 before she became popular. I have never heard anyone with a better voice. This is a video of her doing Fields Of Gold. If you are looking for a Christmas present for a music fan she has several CDs out. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3YVil3Ajjs) (The video does not match the music but the music was recorded live) You can also search on Youtube for other videos of her. She was discovered by the BBC in 2001 and had some big hits in England. She became known in the US after that, primarily due to the skater Michelle Kwan using Fields of Gold to skate to. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/2 "2008-12-02T15:12:31Z")
I’ve heard of her. Many of my friends have as well. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/3 "2008-12-02T15:14:26Z")
Me, too! I heard her on NPR about 8 years ago. Then I went and ordered all the CDs. Great singer. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/4 "2008-12-02T15:14:35Z")
There was a thread about her some months back. Maybe a year or more. I heard about her there, and since then have bought several of her CDs. Great great singer, and writer. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/5 "2008-12-02T15:15:05Z")
Surely Eva Cassidy is one of the most played artists these days. And she gets a good run of reality show contestants doing versions of her songs. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/6 "2008-12-02T15:17:32Z")
She could have had a record contract but she didn’t want to stick to only 1 type of music. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/7 "2008-12-02T15:17:32Z")
Here in Australia nearly everyone I know has some Eva Cassidy, and has had for more years than I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/8 "2008-12-02T15:20:17Z")
It’s nice to know she’s more well known that I thought. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/9 "2008-12-02T15:38:04Z")
I know of her, but only from these boards. Incredible voice. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/10 "2008-12-02T15:43:24Z")
I think she did get a lot of publicity on various internet sites. Also Nightline did a show on her back in 2001, you can find that on Youtube as well. She was pretty well known around the DC area where she lived but I don’t believe she ever toured outside that area. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/11 "2008-12-02T15:48:51Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Here in Australia nearly everyone I know has some Eva Cassidy, and has had for more years than I can remember. I first heard her (“Fields of Gold”) while listening to Austrailian radio (probably 4BH) online. Which is funny because she’s from around here. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/12 "2008-12-02T23:42:38Z")
(In honor of the on going Kitchen Aid Mixer thread) I soooooooooooo do not play her song [“I Know You By Heart”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISipJs6I1w4&feature=related) on a regular basis, and definitely did not burn it to a number of different CDs so I could hear her voice daily! Nor did I download “Songbird” so that I could double my pleasure. Nope, not me. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/13 "2008-12-03T02:51:42Z")
Bijou Drains writes: \> She was pretty well known around the DC area where she lived but I don’t \> believe she ever toured outside that area. Actually, she wasn’t really even well-known in the Washington area. She had some hardcore fans who frequented the few clubs where she played, but she had no general fame in the area. She did one tour outside the area, with the group Pieces of a Dream, but her style didn’t really mix well with theirs and it did nothing to increase her fame. She did one foreign appearance when she went to visit her brother in Iceland and played a club there. I and several other posters occasionally mention her in threadson the SDMB about favorite music. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/14 "2008-12-03T04:59:35Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > She could have had a record contract but she didn’t want to stick to only 1 type of music. Her biography information says she was going to have a contract with Apollo Records, but the company went bankrupt first. Personally, I don’t care her for voice very much. I can think of a half a dozen vocalists off the top of my head that have more depth and range, her voice always seemed like light cotton candy to me. Still, opinions vary and a lot of people here liked her. She mostly did covers of other people’s songs, so I think she could have had a contract if she would have lived longer. Such a sad thing to die so young, I believe she had a lot she could have done. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/15 "2008-12-03T05:00:37Z")
Didn’t they use her version of Fields of Gold in a Dawson’s Creek episode? Damn, damn, DAMN, I shouldn’t know that! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/16 "2008-12-03T10:08:51Z")
Eva Cassidy’s songs have been used in the soundtracks of many TV shows and movies. Here’s a list: [http://www.evacassidy.org/eva/soundtracks.shtml](http://www.evacassidy.org/eva/soundtracks.shtml) For that reason, Bijou Dreams makes a strange claim in saying this: \> She became known in the US after that, primarily due to the skater Michelle \> Kwan using Fields of Gold to skate to. The use of the song by Kwan is only one of many prominent appearances of her songs, so it’s at best a wild exaggeration to say that that was what made her known in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/17 "2008-12-03T11:21:18Z")
It was the BBC that really brought her into the limelight. Terry Wogan championed her version of Over the Rainbow and played it a lot. [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUwTdqPkluY) was shown on British TV and then the interest grew exponentially. Other markets took it up and she finally got the recognition that she so richly deserved. It’s terrible that she died so young but at least the world got to know about her talent. Her voice has a quality that is very pleasing. Power and subtlety is a rare thing. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/18 "2008-12-03T12:30:59Z")
I’ve never heard of her but what a beautiful voice. Thanks for bringing her to my attention! Sidenote: She looks like Stevie Nicks and Loretta Swit had a love child. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/19 "2008-12-03T13:04:18Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUwTdqPkluY) Just watched this again. It’s been a while since I saw it but it still packs a punch. The section at 4mins in is very moving, the way she controls the power is superb. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339/20 "2008-12-03T13:48:11Z")
Damn you, Bijou. I have to go to work and I’m sitting here sniveling like a big girl who has spilled her milk. What a lovely voice. What a strong voice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eva-cassidy-greatest-singer-you-have-never-heard/475339.md?page=2)