Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 in Washington, DC – November 2, 1996 in… Read Full Bio ↴Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 in Washington, DC – November 2, 1996 in Bowie, Maryland) was an American vocalist described by the British newspaper The Guardian as "one of the greatest voices of her generation." She had a diverse repertoire of jazz, blues, folk, gospel and pop. Cassidy remained virtually unknown outside of her native Washington, DC, when she died of melanoma (which had spread to her bones) in 1996. Her posthumously released recordings have since sold in excess of four million copies, and in early 2001 the compilation album Songbird reached #1 on the UK album charts.

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.

End The Rain
Eva Cassidy Lyrics

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The darkened day
Clouded skies lay low
Silence spreads across
The city street lights
The endless rain
Sneaking through the sky
Drenches my face
As I walk down the street

If I ask the sky
(If I ask the sky)
Will it end the rain
(Will it end the rain)
Can the sun break through
(Can the sun break through)
Brighten up the day
(Brighten up the day)

The tearful eye
Stares into the night
Trying to forget
Yesterday's sorrow
Saying goodbye
To someone you know
Lonesome solitude
In the darkness

If I ask the sky
(If I ask the sky)
Will it end the rain
(Will it end the rain)
Can the sun break through
(Can the sun break through)
Brighten up the day
(Brighten up the day)

If I go back in time
Can I fix the mistakes
Will the madness end
Will it end the rain
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la

If I ask the sky
(If I ask the sky)
Will it end the rain
(Will it end the rain)
Can the sun break through
(Can the sun break through)
Brighten up the day
(Brighten up the day)

If I go back in time
Can I fix the mistakes
Will the madness end
Will it end the rain

If I ask the sky
(If I ask the sky)
Will it end the rain
(Will it end the rain)
Can the sun break through
(Can the sun break through)
Brighten up the day
(Brighten up the day)

If I go back in time
Can I fix the mistakes

Will the madness end
Will it end the rain

Overall Meaning

Eva Cassidy's song "End The Rain" is a hauntingly beautiful ballad about someone seeking relief from their emotional pain, represented by the endless rain falling from the darkened day's clouded skies. The singer longs for a break from their sorrow and solitude by asking the sky if it can end the rain and let the sun break through, brightening up the day. The tearful eye staring into the night represents the pain of saying goodbye to someone they know, and the loneliness felt in the darkness. The singer echoes a common human desire to go back in time and fix mistakes to end the madness and bring an end to the enduring sorrow symbolized by the constant rain.

The song's verses paint vivid images that reflect the emotions felt by those struggling with grief and loss in their lives. The metaphor of rain is frequently used in literature and music to convey sadness, cleansing, and renewal, and in "End The Rain," it suggests a cleansing of the soul from the weight of past regrets. The repeated phrases "If I ask the sky, will it end the rain" and "Can the sun break through, brighten up the day" show the singer's belief that there might be a force greater than themselves that could bring relief.

Line by Line Meaning

The darkened day
The day is dark and gloomy

Clouded skies lay low
The sky is covered with clouds hanging low

Silence spreads across
The atmosphere is quiet

The city street lights
The street lights in the city are the only source of light

The endless rain
The rain seems to never stop and is continuous

Sneaking through the sky
The rain seems to be moving stealthily across the sky

Drenches my face
The rain wets and soaks the face

As I walk down the street
The person is walking on the street while it rains

If I ask the sky
The person is questioning the possibility of ending the rain by asking the sky

(If I ask the sky)
Reiterating the person's questioning of the possibility of ending the rain by asking the sky

Will it end the rain
The person is wondering if the sky can make the rain stop

(Will it end the rain)
Reiterating the person's wonder if the sky can make the rain stop

Can the sun break through
The person is questioning if the sun can come out

(Can the sun break through)
Reiterating the person's questioning if the sun can come out

Brighten up the day
The person is hoping that the sun will make the day brighter and less dark

(Brighten up the day)
Reiterating the person's hope that the sun will make the day brighter and less dark

The tearful eye
The person is crying and sad

Stares into the night
The person is looking into the darkness of the night

Trying to forget
The person is attempting to move on and forget

Yesterday's sorrow
The person is experiencing sadness from the past

Saying goodbye
The person is leaving someone

To someone you know
The person is saying goodbye to someone they are familiar with

Lonesome solitude
The person is lonely and in solitude

In the darkness
The person is in the dark or metaphorically distressed and sad

If I go back in time
The person is contemplating going back to the past

Can I fix the mistakes
The person is questioning if they can make corrections to their mistakes in the past

Will the madness end
The person is hoping their current situation of distress and chaos will end

La la la la la la la
Repetitive sounds that may represent sadness or desperation