Eva Cassidy was the third of four children born to Hugh and Barbara Cassidy. From an early age, she displayed artistic and musical talent. When she was nine years old, her father taught her to play the guitar, and she began to play and sing at family gatherings.
While a student at Bowie High School, she did sing with a local band, called Stonehenge, and received considerable praise.
At the age of eighteen, Cassidy began her professional career, singing and playing guitar in a Washington, D.C., area band, called Easy Street. This band performed in a variety of styles, at weddings, corporate parties, and pubs.
During the summer of 1983, Cassidy sang and played guitar, six days per week, at Wild World, in Maryland. Her brother Dan was also a member of this working band.
Throughout the 1980s, Cassidy worked with a number of other bands, including the soul and Motown-oriented band The Honeybees, and the techno-pop band Characters Without Names, later called Method Actor.
During this period, Cassidy also worked as a propagator at a plant nursery and as a furniture painter in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1986, she met (bassist and recording engineer) Chris Biondo, who encouraged her and helped her find work as a backup singer for various acts. In 1990, Biondo and Cassidy hired the so-called "Eva Cassidy Band", composed of Chris Biondo, Lenny Williams, Keith Grimes and Raice McLeod, and she began to perform frequently in the Washington area.
In 1992, Biondo played a tape of Cassidy's voice for Chuck Brown. Best known as the "Godfather of Go-go", Brown is also a jazz and blues vocalist. This led to the first commercial recording of Cassidy, the duet album with Chuck Brown, The Other Side; which featured performances of classic songs such as "Fever", Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" and Cassidy's signature tune "Over the Rainbow". The album was released and distributed by Liaison Records, the label that also released Brown's Go-go albums. The duet CD attracted the attention of various record companies, but the offers all required Cassidy to pigeonhole herself within a single style (e.g., pop or jazz), something she adamantly refused to do.[citation needed]
In 1993 Eva Cassidy was first honored by the Washington area music community when she was awarded two Wammie awards for "Female Vocalist Roots/Traditional R&B" and "Vocalist Jazz/Traditional." The next year she was chosen to perform for the awards ceremony.
In January 1996, Cassidy recorded the album Live at Blues Alley, about which The Washington Post later commented that "she could sing anything and make it sound like the only music that mattered". [1] Cassidy was unhappy with her singing on the album, because she had a bad cold on the night of the recording; she began recording a studio album which was eventually released as Eva by Heart posthumously in 1997.
During a promotional event for the Live at Blues Alley CD in July 1996, Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting murals. The pain persisted, and, a few weeks later, Cassidy was diagnosed with melanoma. By the time of her diagnosis, the cancer had spread throughout her body. Cassidy's health rapidly deteriorated, and her final performance was in September 1996. At the performance, she had used a walker to reach the stage, sang "What a Wonderful World" in front of an audience of friends, and was subsequently admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital.[citation needed]
Eva Cassidy died on November 2, 1996, at the age of 33. She was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Washington Area Music Association.
Emotional Step
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've seen the pain
Your heart's been an open book
Revealing all to those
Who look deep into my eyes
Can't you realize
The love I just can't hide
With the answer lost in time
It's true I'll be right there by your side
I'll be all you'll ever need
If you trust in me
'Cause the only way you'll see
Is to listen to what your heart keeps telling you
Take that emotional step
And bring your love to me
I want to be locked in your loving arms
I'll be right by your side
Take that emotional step
And fall in love
And my love will be forever yours
My love's knocking at your door
Don't hesitate
I know what you're searching for
A love so real you'll only feel
When you hold my hand
Love's alive again
And you will understand
And if the storm cloud appears
Love will guide us through the tears
It's true my love will be right there for you
Let me be your all and all
I'll never let you fall
You're gonna know the truth
That all this time your heart's been telling you
Take that emotional step
And bring your love to me
I want to be locked in your loving arms
I'll be right by your side
Take that emotional step
And fall in love
And my love will be forever yours
Oh oh oh oh
Oh oh
I'll be all you'll ever need
If you trust in me
'Cause the only way you'll see
Is to listen to what your heart keeps telling you
Take that emotional step
And bring your love to me
I want to be locked in your loving arms
I'll be right by your side
Take that emotional step
Oh take that emotional step
And fall in love
And my love will be forever
You know my love will be forever yours
Take that emotional step
I want to be locked in your loving arms
I'll be right by your side
Take that emotional step
(Oh oh oh oh)
And fall in love
I'm gonna be right there for you
Take that emotional step
I want to be (fade-out)
In Eva Cassidy’s song “Emotional Step,” the singer is urging her partner to take the plunge and trust her. The lyrics suggest that this person has been hurt before and is hesitant to love again, but the singer promises to be there through it all. She describes the heart as an open book that can only be understood by looking deep into her eyes. She is confident in her love and is willing to guide her partner through difficult times. The chorus encourages the listener to take an emotional step and fall in love with the promise that her love will be forever.
Overall, the song portrays a sense of compassion and patience. The singer is willing to wait for her partner to trust her and to guide them through any possible challenges that may arise. The message is one of taking a chance on love even if it means taking risks and making yourself vulnerable.
Line by Line Meaning
I know you've been hurt before
I understand that you have been emotionally pained in the past
I've seen the pain
I have seen the pain that you have been through
Your heart's been an open book
Your emotions have been easy to read for those who pay attention
Revealing all to those
Your true feelings are made clear to others who seek them out
Who look deep into my eyes
Only those who take the time and effort to look into my eyes truly see my emotions
Can't you realize
Can't you understand
The love I just can't hide
I have strong feelings for you that are impossible to keep hidden
And when a question comes to mind
If you ever have any doubts
With the answer lost in time
Without a clear answer
It's true I'll be right there by your side
I promise to be there to support you
I'll be all you'll ever need
I am confident that I can fulfill all your emotional needs
If you trust in me
But in order for that to be true, you need to be able to trust me
'Cause the only way you'll see
Because the only way to understand is to have faith
Is to listen to what your heart keeps telling you
You need to follow your heart to find the truth
Take that emotional step
Take a chance on your romantic feelings
And bring your love to me
Open up and share your feelings with me
I want to be locked in your loving arms
I want to feel the embrace of your love
I'll be right by your side
I will stand with you and support you
And fall in love
Let yourself fall in love with me, completely and fearlessly
And my love will be forever yours
If you do, my love will be yours for all eternity
My love's knocking at your door
I am extending my love towards you
Don't hesitate
Don't be afraid to accept love
I know what you're searching for
I know what you're looking for in a relationship
A love so real you'll only feel
A love that you can only feel, not explain
When you hold my hand
Only when you take my hand and feel my love for you
Love's alive again
You can experience love once again
And you will understand
And then you will understand what I am offering you
And if the storm cloud appears
If life becomes difficult
Love will guide us through the tears
Our love will be strong enough to get us through
Let me be your all and all
Allow me to be the main source of your emotional support
I'll never let you fall
I will always be there to catch you
You're gonna know the truth
You will come to understand the depth of my love for you
Oh oh oh oh
A musical interlude
I'm gonna be right there for you
You can count on me at all times
I want to be (fade-out)
A final expression of desire and love
Lyrics © SEAKARA TUNES PUBLISHING
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mosey Long
Hi
Eva sang the vocals for David Christopher's album. He was a highschool friend and she was about 19 y/o. This was recorded and produced by Tony Taylor, an R & B composer/producer from Baltimore. I think he wrote and arranged "Emotional Step" which Eva sang. Eva, actually had a gig singing country/western at a fair or something similar in highschool I believe. If Eva liked the music. she didn't care what the genre was, and she chose her songs very well.
Jamie's poems and psalms
Yes whatever Eva sings she will do very well
Music Playlists
that doesnt sound like Eva Cassidy...
Jamie's poems and psalms
It's she was younger