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.
You Don't know Me
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I can hardly speak my heart is beating so
And anyone can tell you think you know me well
But you don't know me
No you don't know the one who dreams of you at night
Who longs to kiss your lips and longs to hold you tight
I guess I'm just a friend that's all I've ever been
For I never knew the art of making love
Though my heart aches with love for you
Afraid and shy I let my chance go by
A chance that you might love me too
You give your hand to me and then you say goodbye
I watch you walk away beside the lucky one
Oh you'll never know how much I love you so
Well you don't know me
For I never knew the art of making love
Though my heart aches with love for you
Afraid and shy I let my chance go by
A chance that you might love me too
You give your hand to me and then you say goodbye
I watch you walk away beside some lucky guy
And you'll never know how much I love you so
Mmmm you don't know me
No you don't know me
You'll never know the one who loves you so
'Cause you don't know me
The song "You Don't Know Me" by Eva Cassidy and Chuck Brown is a beautiful ballad that tells the story of unrequited love. The opening lines establish a familiar situation in which two people greet each other, but one of them holds feelings that are unexpressed. The singer acknowledges that the other person thinks they know them well, but they don't really know the one who dreams of them at night and longs to hold them tight.
The song paints a picture of a person who is unable to express their love for someone else because they are too shy and afraid. They watch as the object of their affection walks away with another person, never knowing just how much they are loved. The lyrics also suggest that the singer may have missed their chance to be with the person they love.
The chorus repeats the main theme of the song, "you don't know me," emphasizing the idea that there is much more to the singer than the other person realizes. The song is a heartbreaking reminder of the pain of unrequited love and the deep yearning that can accompany it.
Line by Line Meaning
You give your hand to me then you say hello
You greet me warmly, but you don't know me well enough to understand my love for you.
And I can hardly speak my heart is beating so
My feelings for you are so powerful that I am almost unable to express them.
And anyone can tell you think you know me well
You seem to think you understand me completely, but in reality, you don't know my true feelings for you.
But you don't know me
You don't know the depth and intensity of my love for you.
No you don't know the one who dreams of you at night
You are not aware of the one who thinks of you constantly, even in their dreams.
Who longs to kiss your lips and longs to hold you tight
The one who loves you yearns to hold you close and kiss you deeply.
I guess I'm just a friend that's all I've ever been
Despite my love for you, I am resigned to being only a friend.
'Cause you don't know me
My true feelings for you remain hidden because you don't truly know me.
For I never knew the art of making love
I have never been skilled in the art of expressing my love.
Though my heart aches with love for you
My heart is filled with love for you, despite my inability to express it.
Afraid and shy I let my chance go by
Out of fear and shyness, I failed to seize my one opportunity to tell you how I feel.
A chance that you might love me too
I had hoped that you might feel the same way about me and give me a chance at love.
You give your hand to me and then you say goodbye
After a brief interaction, you say goodbye and leave me once again.
I watch you walk away beside the lucky one
I see you walking away with someone who is luckier than I am to have your attention.
Oh you'll never know how much I love you so
My love for you is so strong that you will never truly comprehend its depth and intensity.
Well you don't know me
Despite your interactions with me, you still don't know or understand the strength of my love for you.
No you don't know me
My true self remains a mystery to you, and therefore you can't know the depth of my love.
You'll never know the one who loves you so
You will never fully know the one who adores and cherishes you with all their heart and soul.
'Cause you don't know me
Because you don't truly know me, you are unable to understand the depth of my love for you.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cindy Walker, Eddy Arnold
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
kho61
Their voices mix so beautifully...his deep and raspy, hers high and crystal clear. Both are missed!!
Susan Sapp
The harmonics are EXCEPTIONAL!!
Joan Young
Amazing voice! Eva sings so beautifully with ease! Love everything she sings!
William H. Gibbs,Jr
Am eighty years and just discovered this wonderful voice. I just learned of her and miss her terribly! Such innocence. Wow.
Matie Leaves
76 here and I just discovered her today. Can't stop listening.
Alesia Wardlaw
I just can't stop listening to Eva Cassidy. Her angelic voice is so beautiful, pure and perfect. She sings with such an effortless ease....you truly get lost in her music. It's so tragic of her loss, so young and that her talent wasn't able to be heard by the whole world. If I were a record producer, I would've signed her in a second. No hesitation and no need to be put in one single genre. She could have been on multiple charts at the same time.
Richard Hurt
Eva & Chuck were a dynamic duo, I wish they were still here to entertain us.
Zori Hill
Eva sings from her soul. Another voice added to Gods choir
Richard Hogan
what a beautiful angel......
Rick DiClemente
Pure God's love