Wonderful World
WONDERFUL WORLD, A COMPANION PIECE TO SONGBIRD, is an anthology comprised of standout selections from Eva Cassidy’s other, lesser-known CDs.Included in this collection are "What a Wonderful World," originally on Cassidy’s first solo album, LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY; "Kathy’s Song," "Anniversary Song" and "Penny To My Name" from TIME AFTER TIME; "Say Goodbye," "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and "Waly Waly" from her studio album EVA BY HEART; "You’ve Changed" and "It Doesn’t Matter Anymore" from her IMAGINE album; and "You Take My Breath Away" and "Drowning in the Sea of Love" from last year’s critically-acclaimed CD, AMERICAN TUNE.The opening and closing tracks of the new collection, "What a Wonderful World" and "Waly Waly," respectively, both contain new backing tracks recorded especially for this collection by Cassidy’s original band members."We understand that many people may already have most or all of Eva’s CDs," explains Blix Street President Bill Straw.  "But, for those people who only have SONGBIRD, this anthology serves as an introduction to the other five Eva Cassidy CDs."   Eva Cassidy died of melanoma at the age of 33 in November, 1996, months after the release of Live At Blues Alley.  Although Cassidy was posthumously honored by the Washington Area Music Association as 1996’s ‘top female vocalist" in six separate musical categories and immediately voted into the WAMA "Hall Of Fame," it would be nearly five years before the world at large discovered the music of Eva Cassidy.  After the initial release of Songbird and the re-release of Live At Blues Alley and Eva By Heart during the Spring of 1998, word of mouth began to spread around the globe. Time After Time was released in June, 2000, an NPR producer heard it and arranged for an Eva Cassidy segment on Morning Edition, broadcast in December of 2000, and Eva Cassidy CDs suddenly occupied the top four positions on the amazon.com pop music chart. Meanwhile in England, the Top of the Pops 2 television program aired Eva’s  Live At Blues Alley video performance of "Over the Rainbow," the clip aired again in January, 2001 due to overwhelming popular demand, and Songbird’s run up the British Pop charts reached No. 1 on March 18, 2001. "Unknown American Singer Goes No. 1 In England Five Years After Her Untimely Passing" became news on American television. One by one, The Today Show, ABC News With Peter Jennings, CNN, among others, chronicled the bittersweet success of Eva Cassidy. ABC Nightline devoted an entire program to The Eva Cassidy Story, which received the greatest viewer response ever for a Nightline program and has so far been aired four times. Both Imagine (2002) and American Tune (2003) entered the British charts at No. 1, as Eva Cassidy became the first artist ever to achieve three posthumous British No. 1 albums. Of the six million Eva Cassidy CDs sold worldwide to date, Songbird accounts for half. Wonderful World provides a window into the five CDs that make up the other half.