Eva Cassidy: Songbird : By Those Who Knew Her

Eva Cassidy is a phenomenon. Her album "Songbird" topped the charts and has gone platinum.

All her other albums have reached the Top 40, Songbird selling 950,000 in 18 months.

Her success is even more amazing since she has reached the top without expensive marketing campaigns; her success has come through the quality of her voice and word-of-mouth.

Eva's story is the more astonishing in that in 1996 she died of cancer at the age of 33, virtually unknown outside the Washington area where she grew up and performed.

It was only when Terry Wogan played her version of "Over the Rainbow" two years ago that her incredible career really began.

Her fans know little about Eva partly because her friends and family are naturally reticent and wish to honour her memory.

Now Eva's story can be told - by her parents Hugh and Barbara Cassidy and by Eva's friends.