One song about Eva Cassidy changed everything. British singer Katie Melua was still a student at the BRIT School in Croydon when she performed Faraway Voice, a tribute to the late American vocalist who had become a touchstone for her. On November 3, 2003, that moment led to the release of Call Off the Search, Melua's debut album, on the Dramatico label.
Mike Batt signs a teenager
The man watching her that day was Mike Batt, a musician and producer who had founded Dramatico and was actively hunting for a young artist who could make jazz and blues feel fresh rather than archival. Melua had been studying music at the school and writing her own songs, so she was not just a voice. Batt heard something in Faraway Voice and signed the 18-year-old to his label early in 2003.
The album they made together mixed Batt's own compositions with songs by John Mayall, Randy Newman and others, but Melua herself contributed two original pieces. One was Faraway Voice, the very song that had won Batt over. The other, Belfast (Penguins and Cats), drew on her childhood in Belfast and used a coded image to describe the city's divisions: Protestants became "penguins" and Catholics became "cats."
Chart success across Europe
That blend of personal storytelling and classic songwriting shaped an album billed as jazz and blues, but its commercial impact was anything but niche. The first single, The Closest Thing to Crazy, was released on 1 December 2003 and climbed into the top 10 in Britain and Ireland. By 2004, Call Off the Search had reached number one in the UK and Denmark, and it became the fifth best-selling album of the year in Britain with 1,356,962 copies sold. The album's reach stretched far beyond Britain and Denmark. In Ireland and Norway it climbed to second place, while it reached fourth place in New Zealand, sixth in the Netherlands and eighth in Germany. Even in the United States,, it reached the Billboard 200 and rose to seventh on the Heatseekers chart.
The scale of the success was startling for a debut rooted in jazz and blues. Six-times platinum certification in the UK followed, and by January 2013 British sales had passed 1.9 million copies. Critics largely praised the maturity of Melua's voice, though some reviewers heard the production was too polished. Across Europe the record kept accumulating honours. Germany and Denmark each certified it double platinum, while Norway went further with triple platinum. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry added its own double platinum award for roughly two million copies sold across the continent. The album runs 41 minutes. In Germany it sold 400,000 copies, and in Denmark 80,000, earning double platinum in both countries. Norway went further with triple platinum for 145,000 copies.
Melua's next move suggested she had absorbed both the praise and the caveats. Her second album, Piece by Piece, appeared in 2005, continuing her work with Batt. The debut had done its job: it turned a school performance into a national conversation about a young singer who could carry old forms into new ears. The IFPI later awarded the album double platinum for about two million copies sold across Europe. That recognition confirmed how broadly the record had travelled beyond its jazz and blues roots.
What remains most striking about Call Off the Search is how directly it grew from that first audition. The song Faraway Voice sits on the album as both a memorial to Eva Cassidy and a document of the moment Batt decided to take a chance. In a music industry often driven by focus groups, this was a hit built on one producer's ear and one teenager's nerve.
In a music industry often driven by focus groups, this was a hit built on one producer's ear and one teenager's nerve.