Look up Kathy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Kathy is a feminine given name. It is a pet form of Katherine, Kathleen and their related forms.^[1] Kathy may refer to:

In sports[link]

• Kathy Bald, Canadian freestyle swimmer
• Kathy Radzuweit, German volleyball player
• Kathy Smallwood-Cook, British Olympic athlete
• Kathy Sheehy, American water polo player
• Kathy Tough, Canadian volleyball player
• Kathy Watt, Australian female cycle racer
• Kathy Weston, American middle distance runner

In television and film[link]

• Kathy Bates, American actress and director
• Kathy Burke, British actress
• Kathy Garver, American television, stage, screen, and voice actress
• Kathy Greenwood, Canadian comedian and actress
• Kathy Griffin, American stand-up comedian
• Kathy Hilton, American actress, celebrity and socialite
• Kathy Staff, British actress born in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom

In music[link]

• Kathy Foster, American bassist/drummer in various bands including The Thermals and All Girl Summer Fun Band
• Kathy Leander, Swiss singer
• Kathy Valentine, American bassist for the all-girl pop band The Go-Gos

In politics[link]

• Kathy Stanton, Sinn Féin Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly in North Belfast
• Kathy Sullivan, Australian politician
• Kathy Whitmire American Politician

In literature[link]

• Kathy Acker, American sex-positive feminist writer
• Kathy Stinson, Canadian children's writer
• Kathy Tyers, American author
• Kathy Sierra, author of Head First -programming tutorial series, blogger, game developer.

In fiction[link]

• Kathy Anderson, fictional character in the popular American TV and radio sitcom Father Knows Best
• Kathy Carter, fictional character in the 1959-1964 Marvel comic book Kathy
• Kathy Mitchell, fictional character in the British soap opera EastEnders

In other fields[link]

• Kathy Butterly, American sculptor
• Kathy Ireland, American model

Songs about Kathy[link]

• Kathy's Song (disambiguation)
• Kathy's waltz by The Dave Brubeck Quartet from the album Time Out
• Kathy with a K's Song by Bright Eyes from the album "Oh Holy Fools"

Or see[link]

• Catherina (and similar spellings)

References[link]

1. ^ MFnames.com - Origin and Meaning of Kathy

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

Kathy Bates
Bates in 2006
Born	Kathleen Doyle Bates (1948-06-28) June 28, 1948 (age 63) Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Occupation	Actress, director
Years active	1971–present
Spouse	Tony Campisi (m. 1991–1997) «start: (1991)–end+1: (1998)»"Marriage: Tony Campisi to Kathy Bates" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Kathy_Bates)

Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress and film director. After appearing in several minor roles in film and television during the 1970s and the 1980s, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery (1990), for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe.^[1] She followed this with major roles in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Dolores Claiborne (1995), before playing a featured role as Margaret "Molly" Brown in Titanic (1997). During this time, she began her directing career, primarily in television.

Bates received a Tony Award nomination for her 1983 performance in the Broadway play 'night, Mother. She won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in Primary Colors (1998), for which she also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for About Schmidt (2002). Her television work has resulted in nine Emmy Award nominations. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003, Bates has stated that she has made a full recovery.^[2]

Early life[link]

Bates was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters of Bertye Kathleen (née Talbert; 1907–1997), a homemaker, and Langdon Doyle Bates (1900–1989), a mechanical engineer.^[3] Her paternal grandfather was lawyer and author Finis L. Bates. Her great-great-grandfather was an immigrant from Ireland to New Orleans and served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor.^[4] She graduated from White Station High School, and later attended Southern Methodist University, where she majored in theatre, is a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and graduated in 1969. She moved to New York City in 1970 to pursue an acting career.^[5]

Career[link]

Bates' history of Broadway appearances includes Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July and the Robert Altman-directed Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean opposite Karen Black and Cher. She received a Tony Award nomination in 1983 for her stage role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'night, Mother opposite Anne Pitoniak. The production of 'night, Mother ran for more than a year. One of her other successful New York stage productions was, Off Broadway, in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune which ran 533 performances. McNally specifically wrote the play for Bates and F. Murray Abraham, who had to drop out and was replaced by Kenneth Welsh. The play was later filmed as Frankie and Johnny, starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. She also replaced Amy Irving in the Off Broadway production of The Road to Mecca in 1988.

Bates' first feature film was the 1971 Miloš Forman comedy Taking Off (credited as "Bobo Bates"), wherein she sings an original song "Even Horses Had Wings". Bates' next feature was the 1978 Dustin Hoffman vehicle Straight Time. (In 1990, she would appear again with Hoffman in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy as a stenographer.) Bates continued to appear in little-seen films such as Summer Heat and The Morning After while guest-starring in television shows such as L.A. Law before landing the role of obsessed fan Annie Wilkes, who holds her favorite author (played by James Caan) captive, in the 1990 thriller Misery, based on the novel by Stephen King. Bates received her first Academy Award nomination for that role, winning Best Actress. Soon after, she starred with Jessica Tandy in the acclaimed 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes.

In 1977, Bates made her soap opera debut as Phyllis on NBC's soap opera The Doctors. From 1983 to 1984, she played prison inmate Belle Bodelle on All My Children and from 1984 to 1985, she played Evelyn Maddox on One Life to Live. She also made an appearance on Two and A Half Men as Ghost Charlie.

In 1995, Bates turned in another applauded portrayal as the title character in Dolores Claiborne, a film adaption of another Stephen King novel, although she was not nominated for an Oscar. In 1997, Bates played Margaret "Molly" Brown in James Cameron's Titanic. Based on the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, the film went on to earn more than US$1.8 billion in box-office receipts worldwide.^[6]

Bates also excelled in her role as the acid-tongued "dustbuster" political advisor Libby Holden in the 1998 drama Primary Colors which was adapted from the book in which political journalist Joe Klein novelized his experiences on the Presidential campaign trail in 1991–1992. For this performance, she received her second Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. In 2002 she received her third nomination, for About Schmidt. More recently, she and Terry Bradshaw played the parents of Matthew McConaughey's character in the 2006 film Failure to Launch. Bates was also featured in an uncredited cameo in the miniseries of Stephen King's The Stand.

Bates has been nominated for an Emmy Award^[7] eight times: Outstanding actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, for her performance as Jay Leno's manager Helen Kushnick in HBO's The Late Shift (1996), and, twice again in the same category; as Miss Hannigan in Disney's remake of Annie (1999) and for the HBO Franklin Roosevelt biopic Warm Springs (2005). She was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Lifetime Television's Ambulance Girl (2006), which she also directed and received a Supporting Actress nomination for Alice.

Bates appeared on 10 episodes of the HBO cable television series Six Feet Under for which she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, as Bettina, in 2003. She also was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for 3rd Rock from the Sun in 1999, the same year that she was nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or Movie for the Dashiell Hammett-Lillian Hellman biopic Dash & Lilly. She also had a recurring guest role on the American version of The Office as Jo Bennett, the head executive of the company that buys Dunder Mifflin known as Sabre.

Starting in the 1990s, Bates forged a formidable career as a director. She has directed episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, NYPD Blue, Oz, Six Feet Under, and Everwood. Bates has also directed the television movies Dash and Lilly and the self-starring Ambulance Girl.

Bates directed and co-starred in Have Mercy (2006) with Melanie Griffith. In 2008, she re-teamed with her Titanic co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road.

Bates stars in David E. Kelley's legal drama Harry's Law, which began airing on NBC on January 17, 2011.^[8]

Affiliations[link]

Bates is the Executive Committee Chair of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Bates was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003, but she did not reveal her illness to the general public until 2009.^[2] She stated that she has been "in total remission" for over five and a half years, as of January 2009.^[10]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	Film portal
	Television portal
	Theatre portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kathy Bates

• Kathy Bates at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kathy Bates at the Internet Movie Database
• Kathy Bates at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Kathy Bates at the TCM Movie Database
• Kathy Bates at AllRovi
• Kathy Bates at Yahoo! Movies
• Kathy Bates at Emmys.com

Levi Johnston
Johnston at the 2008 Republican National Convention (September 2008).
Born	Levi Keith Johnston (1990-05-03) May 3, 1990 (age 22) Alaska, United States
Known for	Father of Sarah Palin's grandson
Partner	Bristol Palin (2005-2009, 2010)
Children	Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston (b. 2008)

Levi Keith Johnston (born May 3, 1990) is the former fiancé of Bristol Palin. He first received media attention in August 2008 when U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced that her daughter Bristol was five months pregnant with Johnston's baby and that the two were engaged. Ultimately, the couple ended their relationship, and Johnston and the Palin family engaged in several public feuds.

After working in the Alaskan oil fields, Johnston began pursuing a career in the entertainment industry, aspiring to be a model and an actor. He has written a book based on his experiences with the Palins titled, Deer in the Headlights.

In May 2012 it was reported that Johnston was broke and living at his mother's home in Alaska.^[1][2]

Personal life[link]

Johnston was born in Alaska, the eldest child of Sherry (née Sampson) and Keith Johnston. He has a younger sister, Mercede "Sadie" Johnston.^[3] He attended Wasilla High School, where he played on the hockey team, but dropped out of school in his senior year.^[4][5][6][7] He worked full-time on the Alaska North Slope oil fields as an apprentice electrician,^[8] quitting in January 2009.^[9]

According to Johnston, he and Bristol Palin began dating during their freshman year of high school.^[5] After losing a promise ring on a caribou hunt, Johnston had Bristol's name tattooed on his finger.^[5][10]

Following the announcement that she would be Senator John McCain's running mate in the November, 2008 U.S. presidential election, Sarah Palin announced that her daughter, Bristol, was pregnant by Johnston, and that the two would be married.^[11] Johnston denied claims that he was being pressured into a shotgun wedding, stating, "We were planning on getting married a long time ago with or without the kid. That was the plan from the start."^[5] The couple's son, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, was born in December 2008,^[12] but the two broke off their engagement in March 2009.^[12] In May 2009, Johnston said that their relationship was improving and that they were determined to jointly raise Tripp.^[13] Later, Bristol began a child custody case against Johnston, seeking sole custody and child support.^[14]

In July 2010, Bristol Palin and Johnston announced that they had reunited and were engaged for the second time;^[15][16] less than three weeks later, they ended their second engagement.^{[17][18][19][20][21]}

In April 2012, it was announced that Johnston and his girlfriend, Sunny Oglesby (born 1992), are expecting a child together.^[22]

Media attention[link]

During the 2008 U.S. presidential election[link]

Johnston attended the 2008 Republican National Convention with the Palin family.^[23] While Sarah Palin was delivering her prime-time nomination acceptance speech, the cameras frequently cut away to Johnston and Bristol.^[23] Johnston shook hands onstage with Sarah Palin's running mate, Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain,^[5] and was treated as a member of Palin's family.^[24] Fox News commentator Dick Morris remarked that McCain's decision to welcome Johnston to the stage was a good move because it would help McCain show "a nonjudgmental", tolerant attitude, while still sending the message that unwed teens who become pregnant should marry.^[25]

2009 interviews[link]

After his 2009 breakup with Bristol, Johnston gave a series of nationally televised interviews.^{[26][27][28][29]} He appeared on The Tyra Banks Show with his mother and sister, saying he wanted to dispel rumors.^[30] Remarking on Bristol's public appearances to promote sexual abstinence,^[31] Johnston told The Early Show that "abstinence is a great idea" but said it was unrealistic to think it is going to work for teens.^[32] In another interview he said that he was "pretty sure" Sarah Palin had known that he and Bristol were having sex in the family's mansion.^[26]

The Palin family denounced Johnston's statements as lies, with one public statement reading, "Levi and his family... for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship."^[33]

In August 2009, Johnston speculated that Sarah Palin's early resignation from office was due to long-standing marital difficulties, the pressures of the job, and lucrative book and other media offers.^[34][35][36] In a September 2009 Vanity Fair interview, Johnston alleged that Sarah Palin initially wanted the couple to keep Bristol's pregnancy a secret and offered to adopt the baby and raise him as her own,^[37] but that he and Bristol rejected the plan.^[37] In response, Sarah told the media Johnston's statements were "untrue, malicious, and appalling", emphasizing that she highly appreciated her children and commenting that Johnston's photoshoots were "attention-seeking and desperate".^[38]

2010 apology and reversal[link]

In July 2010, a week prior to the announcement that he and Bristol were engaged a second time, Johnston issued a statement saying "I publicly said things about the Palins that were not completely true. I have already privately apologized to Todd and Sarah. Since my statements were public, I owe it to the Palins to publicly apologize."^[39] After brief second engagement ended, Johnston said that he regretted issuing the apology, saying, "it kind of makes me sound like a liar. I've never lied about anything."^[40][41]

2011 Wasilla mayoral election[link]

In August 2010, Johnston announced that he would be running in the October 2011 election for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska,^[42][43] saying he wanted his son, Tripp, to be proud of him.^[44] The then-current mayor, Verne E. Rupright, responded that Johnson's announcement was a little early, and advised him to get a high school diploma, and keep his clothes on, a reference to Johnston's modeling career.^[45][46] Bristol Palin responded that she "never knew he had political aspirations. I'm glad that Levi has not given up on completing his education and is looking for steady employment."^[47] Johnston's manager stated he hoped to copy the rise of Sarah Palin from mayor of Wasilla to governor of Alaska, "creating a rural, Alaskan version of the Bush political dynasty."^[48] It was reported that Johnston's bid for mayor would tie in to his proposed reality television series.^[49]

On September 3, 2010, Public Policy Polling reported that Johnston had become the most unpopular person polled in his home state, with a six percent approval and 72 percent disapproval rating, replacing former Democratic presidential candidate and senator John Edwards.^[50]

On August 23, 2011, six weeks before the October 4 election, Johnston announced through his attorney that he would not be running, citing his busy schedule promoting his new book.^[51] His manager stated that "Levi doesn't want the office of the Mayor to be a joke", adding that "there are a lot of issues that he would need to study up on and he thinks that this isn't the right time for him to be Mayor."^[52]

Other activities[link]

Johnston is an avid hunter who has hunted bears, caribou, and elk.^[10]

Johnston hired Anchorage, Alaska attorney Rex Butler (who was previously best known for representing criminal defendants and handling civil litigation)^[53] to represent him in his pursuit of a career in the entertainment industry.^[54] The Associated Press reported in July 2009 that Johnston was also pursuing a movie deal.^[55]

Johnston and comedienne Kathy Griffin attended the 2009 Teen Choice Awards together. She later stated that he was "surprisingly sweet and courteous" to her.^[56] Johnston and Griffin's acquaintance is documented in the sixth season of Griffin's reality television series, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Additionally, as a gag in her stand-up comedy routine, Griffin often referred to the acquaintance as a relationship, and Johnston as her boyfriend.

In October 2009, Johnston appeared in a television commercial for Roll International, makers of Wonderful Pistachios, as part of their "Get Crackin" advertising campaign.^[57][58] The commercial features Johnston, with a bodyguard, opening a pistachio as a voice-over states, "Now Levi Johnston does it with protection."^[59]

It was reported that Johnston would pose fully nude for Playgirl magazine;^[60] however, following a statement by Sarah Palin that referred to Johnston's "aspiring porn career",^[61] it was announced that Johnston's photo shoot would not include full frontal nudity.^[62]

Politico reported in April 2010 that Johnston was writing on a memoir "that would air the true story of the Palin household."^[63] Johnston's book, Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs, was published in September 2011.^[64].

In popular culture[link]

On September 28, 2010, Ben Folds and Nick Hornby released an album called Lonely Avenue, which featured a track entitled "Levi Johnston's Blues". The song provides an account of Johnston's story,^[65] based on actual posts Johnston had uploaded to his own MySpace webpage.

Alaska singer-songwriter Marian Call has said that "The Avocado Song" was inspired by Levi Johnston.

In the HBO film Game Change, Johnston is portrayed by actor Justin Gaston.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Levi Johnston at the Internet Movie Database
• Levi Johnston on Twitter
• Sullivan, John Jeremiah (May 2009). "He Shall Be Levi".GQ. Accessed July 21, 2010.
• Levi Johnston on NBC's Today Show. (video only). July 13, 2009. Accessed December 22, 2009.
• Staff writer (August 10, 2009). "Levi Johnston and Kathy Griffin Take Two: Flirting and Palin Talk on Larry King" (includes video). The Huffington Post. Accessed December 18, 2009.
• Staff writer (June 17, 2009). "Levi Johnston Weighs In on Palin Vs. Letterman Controversy" (includes video). Radar. Accessed December 18, 2009.
• Sure, He's Running for Mayor, But What Is Levi Johnston's Political Platform?

v t e Sarah Palin Politics Early political career · Governor of Alaska · Resignation as Governor · Political positions Campaigns Electoral history · Alaska gubernatorial election, 2006 · McCain–Palin 2008 Other Death panel · Mama grizzly · Political action committee Books and media by Sarah Palin Going Rogue: An American Life · America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag · Sarah Palin's Alaska Family Todd Palin (husband) · Bristol Palin (daughter) · Levi Johnston (father of grandson)   Public image Book and media coverage about Sarah Palin Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down · Public image and reception · Katie Couric interviews · Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare · Game Change (book, film) · The Undefeated Parodies and pranks Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin · The Masked Avengers' prank on Sarah Palin Related articles Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal · Gravina Island Bridge · Sarah Palin email hack Conservatism Portal · Book:Sarah Palin · Category:Sarah Palin

Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a live solo album, Live at Blues Alley in 1996. Although she had been honored by the Washington Area Music Association, she was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, D.C., when she died of melanoma (skin cancer) in 1996.

Four years later, Cassidy's music was brought to the attention of British audiences when her version of "Over the Rainbow" was played by Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2. Following the overwhelming response, a camcorder recording of "Over the Rainbow", taken at Blues Alley in Washington, was shown on BBC Two's Top of the Pops 2. Shortly afterwards, the compilation album Songbird climbed to the top of the UK Albums Charts, almost three years after its initial release. The chart success in the United Kingdom and Ireland led to increased recognition worldwide; her posthumously released recordings, including three UK number 1s, have sold more than ten million copies.^[1] Her music has also charted top 10 positions in Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born on February 2, 1963, at the Washington Hospital Center,^[3] Cassidy grew up in Oxon Hill and later Bowie, Maryland, suburbs of Washington, D.C.. She was the third of four children born to Hugh and Barbara Cassidy. Her father, a retired teacher, sculptor, musician, Powerlifter and former army medic, is of Scottish and Irish descent, while her German-born mother was a horticulturist.^[2][4][5] From an early age, Cassidy displayed interest in art and music. When she was nine, her father taught her to play the guitar and she began to play and sing at family gatherings.^[4]

At age 11, Cassidy began singing and playing guitar in a Washington area band called Easy Street.^[6] This band performed in a variety of styles at weddings, corporate parties and pubs. Due to her shyness, she struggled with performing in front of strangers. While a student at Bowie High School, she sang with a local band called Stonehenge.^[4] During the summer of 1983, Cassidy sang and played guitar six days a week at the theme park Wild World.^[4] Her younger brother Dan, a fiddler, was also a member of this working band. She enrolled in art classes at a community college but dropped out after finding them unhelpful.^[7]

Throughout the 1980s, Cassidy worked with several other bands, including the techno-pop band Characters Without Names. During this period, Cassidy also worked as a propagator at a plant nursery and as a furniture painter. In her free time, she explored other artistic expressions including painting, sculpting and jewelry design.^[7] Despite holding a belief in God, Cassidy was not part of any organized religion.^[8]

Music career[link]

In 1986, Cassidy was asked by Stonehenge guitarist and high school friend, David Lourim, to lend her voice to his music project, Method Actor.^[9] This brought her to Black Pond Studios, where she met bassist and recording engineer Chris Biondo. Biondo helped her find work as a session singer and later introduced her to Al Dale, who would become her manager. She sang back-ups for various acts, from go-go rhythm and blues band Experience Unlimited to rapper E-40.^[10] Biondo and Cassidy, who were in a romantic relationship for a time, formed the five-piece "Eva Cassidy Band" with Lenny Williams, Keith Grimes and Raice McLeod in 1990. They began to perform frequently in the Washington area.^[4]

	"Over the Rainbow" noicon One of the changes Cassidy made to "Over the Rainbow" includes singing the opening word "somewhere" on the same high A flat, rather than with an octave jump of the Judy Garland version.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

	"Stormy Monday" noicon Cassidy's arrangement of T-Bone Walker's popular blues song.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1992, Biondo played a tape of Cassidy's voice for Chuck Brown, the "Godfather of go-go".^[11] It resulted in the duet album The Other Side featuring performances of classic songs such as "Fever", "God Bless the Child," and what would later become Cassidy's signature song, "Over the Rainbow". The album was released and distributed in 1992 by Liaison Records, the label that also released Brown's Go-go albums. Brown originally intended to record a single duet with Cassidy for his next solo album, but this was postponed due to ongoing negotiations between Dale and other labels for a solo deal.^[10][12] Cassidy's unwillingness to narrow her stylistic focus to one genre hindered her chances of securing a deal.^[13][14] After talks broke down, the two decided to record their own duet album. As a duo, they performed at the Columbia Arts Festival and opened for acts like Al Green and The Neville Brothers.^[10]

In 1993, Cassidy was honored by the Washington Area Music Association with a Wammie award for the Vocalist Jazz/Traditional category.^[15] The next year she was invited to perform at the event and chose to sing "Over the Rainbow". A Washington Times review of the event called her performance "a show-stopper".^[16] She took home two Wammies that night, again for Vocalist Jazz/Traditional and also for Roots Rock/Traditional R&B.^[15] For a brief period that year, Cassidy signed a deal with Blue Note Records to pair up with pop-jazz band Pieces of a Dream to release an album and tour the country. She sang two tracks in a mainly instrumental album. It was a musically unsatisfying experience for her.^[10]

After having a potential contract with Apollo Records collapse when the label went bankrupt, Biondo and Dale decided that she should release her own live album.^[10] In January 1996, the material for Live at Blues Alley was recorded over a two-day period at Blues Alley, Washington, D.C. Due to a technical glitch on the first night of recording,^[17] only the second night's recording was usable. Unhappy with the way she sounded due to a cold, she was reluctant to release the album. She eventually relented, on the condition that the studio track "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread", Cassidy's favorite song,^[18] would be included in the release, and that they start working on a follow-up studio album.^[7][10] Her apprehension appeared unfounded as local reviewers and the public responded positively.^[7] The Washington Post commented that "she could sing anything — folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel — and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered."^[11] The subsequent studio album she worked on was released as Eva by Heart posthumously in 1997. In the liner notes of Eva by Heart, critic Joel E. Siegel described Cassidy as "one of the greatest voices of her generation."^[7]

Death[link]

In 1993, Cassidy had a malignant mole removed from her back. Three years later, during a promotional event for the Live at Blues Alley album in July 1996, Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting murals while perched atop a stepladder.^[11] The pain persisted and a few weeks later, X-rays revealed that the melanoma had spread to her lungs and bones. Her doctors estimated she had three to five months to live. Cassidy opted for aggressive treatment, but her health deteriorated rapidly. In the early fall, at a benefit concert for her at the Bayou, she made her final public appearance, closing the set with "What a Wonderful World" in front of an audience of friends, fans and family. Additional chemotherapy was uneffective, and within six weeks she had died.^[2][11][19]

Cassidy died on November 2, 1996, at her family home in Bowie, Maryland. She was 33. In accordance with her wishes, her body was cremated and the ashes were scattered on the lake shores of St. Mary's River Watershed Park, a nature reserve near Callaway, Maryland.^[2]

Posthumous recognition[link]

After Cassidy's death, local folk singer Grace Griffith introduced the Blues Alley recording to Bill Straw from her label, Blix Street Records.^[19] Straw approached the Cassidy family to put together a new album. In 1998, a compilation of tracks from Cassidy's three released recordings was assembled into the CD Songbird. This CD lingered in relative obscurity for two years until being given airplay by Terry Wogan on his wide-reaching BBC Radio 2 show Wake Up to Wogan, following recommendation by his producer Paul Walters. The album sold more than 100,000 copies in the following months.^[2] The New York Times spoke of her "silken soprano voice with a wide and seemingly effortless range, unerring pitch and a gift for phrasing that at times was heart-stoppingly eloquent."^[19]

Before Christmas of 2000, Top Of The Pops 2 aired a video of Cassidy performing "Over the Rainbow", which resulted in Songbird climbing steadily up the UK charts over the next few weeks. Just as ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald aired a feature on Cassidy, the album topped the chart.^[20] Shot at Blues Alley by a friend with a camcorder the same night the album was recorded,^[2] the video became the most requested video ever shown on Top Of The Pops 2.^[21] "There's an undeniable emotional appeal in hearing an artist who you know died in obscurity singing a song about hope and a mystical world beyond everyday life", wrote The Guardian.^[22]

Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton were among her new-found fans. Jazz critic Ted Gioia writes, "you might be tempted to write off the 'Cassidy sensation' [...] as a response to the sad story of the singer's abbreviated life rather than as a measure of her artistry. But don't be mistaken, Cassidy was a huge talent, whose obscurity during her lifetime was almost as much a tragedy as her early death."^[23] Songbird has since achieved significant chart success throughout Europe and six times platinum status in the UK.^[2][24] Although still relatively unknown in the United States at that time, the album would eventually be certified gold in the U.S. as well.^[25]