Eva Cassidy, London Symphony Orchestra & Christopher Willis - I Can Only Be Me (2023) [Hi-Res]

The latest chapter in an unparalleled posthumous career, I Can Only Be Me is a landmark new collaborative album with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Eva Cassidy’s original vocal parts have been isolated and accompanied by new arrangements written by Oscar-shortlisted Christopher Willis and Grammy-winning William Ross. Utilising recent advances in machine learning technologies, the existing vocal part has been painstakingly restored and enhanced to reveal previously unheard levels of clarity and depth. The result is an emotive, atmospheric album, familiar yet different, lush soundscapes accompanying pristine vocals.

"I cannot possibly find the words to express my thoughts and feelings about Eva. She is one of the most unique and powerful singers of all time. Her voice permeates my entire being. I don't understand what she does to me, but I am overwhelmed by the experience," says William Ross, who rearranged "Autumn Leaves." Christopher Willis handled the other eight tracks, "The first song on the album is Eva's iconic rendition of 'Songbird`. The wonderful, resonating truth about this song is that Eva is the Songbird, singing naturally from her heart. The goal with the orchestral version was to complement her pure vocal essence with an instrumental arrangement - a lush musical landscape with Eva's voice at the center."

"Songbird" was impressively used in the movie "Love Actually..." in 2003. In the meantime, the film has become a cult Christmas movie in many countries and is shown annually on TV. It is set in London two months before Christmas and tells ten different stories about love in parallel, all of which connect on December 24. "Songbird" - in the new orchestral version - has already been released as a single, as has "Tall Trees In Georgia."

In recent years, Eva Cassidy has become a role model for a younger generation of female singers. Every year there are countless new uses of Eva's music in film, television and beyond: figure skating champion Michelle Kwan skated to "Fields Of Gold" during the closing ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Eva's music has been used in "Maid in Manhattan," "Alpha Dog," "Party of Five," "So You Think You Can Dance," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Smallville" and even on the German "Tatort." In 2007, Eva Cassidy ranked 21st in a BBC poll of the 100 Voices of the 20th Century, and in 2015, her version of "Over The Rainbow" was played at the 67th Emmy Awards as background music for the "In Memoriam" ceremony, which the television industry uses to honor the passing of important personalities. More recently, shows such as "Firefly Lane," "This Is Us," "CSI: Vegas" and even a COVID-19 vaccination campaign have used Eva's music. On talent shows such as "The X Factor," "The Voice," "American Idol," "America's Got Talent," "Dancing With The Stars" and "The Masked Singer," Eva's arrangements and recordings continue to hang the bar high.

Worldwide, Eva Cassidy has now sold more than 12 million albums and many top stars such as Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Adele ("I dressed up as a Slipknot fan and after school I ran home and listened to Eva Cassidy") are fans of hers.

Eva Cassidy did not live to see her later immense success; she died at the age of only 33. Her interpretations of classic titles from the genres of jazz, blues, gospel and soul were to conquer the charts years later. She was interested in music from an early age, learning the guitar as a child, but at first only playing in the family circle. She was inspired by her parents' large record collection - listening alone was not enough for her, she wanted to sing and play herself. Cassidy's first public appearances were at weddings and street festivals, later she became the singer of a high school band and got more and more jobs as a studio and background singer until she founded her own formation, the Eva Cassidy Band. Almost all of the recordings that exist today were recorded with her band or resulted from studio sessions from Black Pond Studio.

While she did receive Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) awards (1993, 1994 and 1995 in the category of "Best Female Vocalist for Jazz/Traditional," 1994 in the category of "Best Female Vocalist for Roots Rock/Traditional R&B," 1995 as "Best Female Vocalist Jazz/Contemporary"), her career otherwise refused to take off.