Cancer victim Cassidy takes UK chart top spot

Eva Cassidy shot straight to the top of the album charts tonight, almost seven years after her death from cancer.

American Tune, her fourth posthumous album, brings together five new songs taken from rehearsal tapes, live recordings and a studio demo.

Cassidy died in 1996, aged just 33, four months after being diagnosed with advanced melanoma.

The album knocks Robbie Williams’s Escapology from the number one spot, which returned to the top of the charts following the star’s sell-out three-night stint at Knebworth Park.

Escapology was released at Christmas and last held the number one spot in January before dropping down the charts.

The highest new entry was Kosheen’s Kokopelli, which entered at number seven.

Breathe, by urban R&B star Blu Cantrell with DJ Sean Paul, clung on to the number one in the singles chart for a third week.

Ultrabeat’s Pretty Green Eyes remains at number two, while the third spot is taken by the new entry from Busted – Sleeping With The Lights On.