The American singer Eva Cassidy's 'Songbird' album became increasingly popular after her death in 1996. After being re-released in 1998, word of mouth spread over the following years, and finally in 2001 it became a number one album for two weeks. I remember this because it held the Manic Street Preachers' 'Know Your Enemy' off of the top spot, which Nicky Wire didn't seem pleased about at the time. I was another person who wasn't pleased, since the Manics were my heroes and all I knew about Eva Cassidy was that she was selling a lot of records after her death, something which made me very cynical. It's taken me years to actually listen to her music, but this morning I did exactly that. Oddly, while doing so I had no idea who I was listening to. This beautiful track was played on Mary Anne Hobbs' brilliant weekend breakfast show on BBC 6Music about half an hour or so ago as a suggestion for a good "autumn song", and when it was revealed that this was Eva Cassidy something inside me went "ahhh! so THAT's what all the fuss was about!". Better late than never I suppose...
BBC 6Music's top-class weekend breakfast show with Mary Anne Hobbs can be heard