Eva Cassidy - The Best Of Eva Cassidy

On September 17, 1996, a young woman, accompanied by a few dozen family and friends, attended her own tribute concert in a small club in the Washington, DC area. Transcending the effects of chemotherapy and morphine in that moment, the singer abandoned her walker and was helped onto the stage for what would be her final performance, "What a Wonderful World." A few weeks later Eva Cassidy passed away, having been diagnosed with melanoma months earlier. Refusing to bend her music to the industry's conventions and expectations, Eva was known only within the DC area during her lifetime. She left behind one live album, a duet album, and various studio demos and live recordings. In these intervening 16 years, Eva's music has proven timeless and universal. Crossing all boundaries - musical, cultural, geographical - her voice survived and is finding new listeners every day in every corner of the earth.

Released on the eve of what would have been her 50th birthday, these 20 performances document Eva Cassidy's musical legacy for the ages.

Released on the eve of what would have been her 50th birthday these twenty performances document Eva Cassidy's musical legacy for the ages. The collection gathers 19 performances from Cassidy's previous albums and adds a new unreleased version of "You Take My Breath Away." Included here are Cassidy's breathtaking versions of material by Paul Simon ("Kathy's Song"), Christine McVie ("Songbird"), Bill Withers ("Ain't No Sunshine"), Cyndi Lauper ("Time After Time"), Sting ("Fields of Gold"), John Lennon ("Imagine") and Curtis Mayfield ("People Get Ready") along with a few timeless standards ("Autumn Leaves," "Over the Rainbow").

"Any new track on an Eva Cassidy best-of album had the tall order of being competitive with the other 19 classic Eva tracks, which have together raised the bar for singers everywhere," explains Blix Street Records president Bill Straw.

"Essentially, Eva had to top or at least equal her own best work. I believe she did it. Otherwise, we would not have put it on the album. Some of our people in England are saying this ‘new' version of ‘You Take My Breath Away' is the best ‘sounding' Eva Cassidy recording ever, high praise indeed at this point. It is enough to say that Eva's ‘newest' released performance is worthy for inclusion among her best. Eva fans will ultimately decide for themselves where it ranks for them among her many classics."

Marking what would have been the year of the late pop vocalists 50th birthday, this double vinyl compilation also includes a bonus CD with all 20 songs.