Source: BSG PR
By: Company Press Release
Candye Kane is well aware of the colorful words being used about her… “Voluptuous, teenage mom from East L.A, sex positive feminist, former stripper and porn queen, sex advice columnist, fat activist, divorced bisexual, Jewish, controversial, provocative, novelty act, plays piano with her breasts”…
Alas, descriptions that are often glaringly missing are the ones that describe her musical life; a career that has spanned 16 years and has carved her a niche as a singer and songwriter in spite of the doomsayers prophesies for failure. Kane has never been a quitter and like the revered blues women of old, she keeps on going and going, belting out her songs in the face of adversity. She perseveres in spite of the people who label her a novelty act, and underestimate the tremendous impact she has as a serious blues artist in a sea of imitators.
2002 was again a monumental year for Candye. She won the Best Blues Band award, from the San Diego Music Awards for a record seventh time. Her CD “The Toughest Girl Alive”, (Rounder/Bullseye) was named one of the Top Ten Best CDs of the Year by the Chicago Tribune. Kane is in the studio again recording her sixth CD for her new label, German based Ruf records. The CD titled Whole Lotta Love produced by Grammy Winner Val Garay in Los Angeles, will be launched at the SXSW music festival in Austin Texas in March and at the Ascona Jazz festival in Switzerland in July 2003. The CD features a duet with legendary blues man Charlie Musselwhite. It also features Charlie’s guitar playing. Other guests on the CD include Canned Heat’s Larry Taylor, Little Feat’s Richie Heywood and guitar wizard Jeff Ross, along with Candye’s own crack band of musicians.
Candye is proud to have been mentioned recently in the Rolling Stone Guide to Jazz and Blues and the Musichound Guides to Swing and Blues. Her self penned song: You Need a Great Big Woman was featured on Lifetimes Strong Medicine; the highest rated TV show in basic cable history. She toured Europe twice; headlining the Notodden Blues Festival, and played a sold out theater tour of the Netherlands with the Night of the Blues Revue stage show.
Europe wasn’t the only place hooked on Candye; she was also featured at the world renowned San Francisco Blues Festival and was featured in the February 2002 issue of Penthouse magazine, in an article strictly about her music; and she just returned from Australia where she headlined the East Coast Rhythm and Roots Festival with Keb Mo, Ozomatli and Bela Fleck. In April she played a two week sold out tour of Israel in venues like the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem and the Enav Cultural Center in Tel Aviv. She was also included in the House of Blues compilation CD, 30 Essential Women of the Blues, alongside her heroes, Etta James, Bessie Smith and Big Maybelle. Candye is currently working on her memoirs, and has received interest from some prestigious publishing companies. With Candye’s racy history, the book should be a sure fire success.
What most people don’t hear about Candye are the things that happen behind the scenes. The things she does that don’t make titillating copy or sell newspapers. Candye is a single mother, selling Tupperware to make ends meet. Armed with her guitar, Candye turns her parties into a display for her vintage apron collection, and gets to know her fans upclose and personal.
Besides being a tireless self promoter, Candye lends her name and time to projects to help others less fortunate; donating her song “The Toughest Girl Alive” to a CD compilation “This House” for the Nicole Brown foundation Battered Womens Shelters. She also found time to volunteer for Los Angeles AIDSwalk and appeared at the Children’s Hospitals of California Benefit in late June. She also participated in the sex Workers Art Show Tour. This tour featured 15 current and former sex workers displaying their art and Talents in an attempt to shatter stereotypes about sex work. Candye was proud to participate in this political event, believing strongly that sex workers, as well as all people, deserve a voice in society and a fighting chance. (SexWorkersArtShow.com) in between all this activity, she volunteers for her youngest son’s school fundraisers, and is an enthusiastic feminist, helping women in music with contacts and advice where and whenever she can.
But don’t let any of these facts be the reason why you book a show with Candye, or choose to write an article about her. Listen to the voice that the Washington Post has described as “A natural wonder like the Grand Canyon.” Tap your toes to the infectious, sometimes humorous songs Candye writes with their messages for the disenfranchised, the lonely and the unloved. We think you’ll agree that Candye Kane is just what the Doctor ordered. She’s a diva who is here to help us celebrate our sexuality, shatter stereotypes, live our dreams and have a damn good time on the dance floor.
For more information visit CandyeKane.com. To request a review copy, or to set up an interview with Ms. Kane, please contact Brian Gross, BSG Public Relations, (818) 343-3673. Email: Brian@BSGPR.com
Candye’s recent television credits include: Roseanne, Penn & Teller, Donny and Marie, the Point with Greta Van Susteran, Queen Latifah, Pajama Party on the Oxygen Network, HBO Sexbytes.
Discography:
1985 a Town South of Bakersfield Part Ii (Enigma Records/compilation)
1992 Burlesque Swing (self released cassette) 1992 Let’s Put the X Back in Christmas (self released CD with Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers and Kim Wilson)
1993 Acoustic Variations (Local San Diego Compilation CD)
1994 Home Cookin’ (Antone’s Records/Austin,Texas)
1994 Rock for Choice (Enigma Records/Compilation)
1995 Austin Rocks! (Antone’s Records Compilation)
1995 Knock Out (Antone’s Records/Austin,Texas)
1996 Diva LA Grande (Antone’s/Discovery)
1999 Swango (Sire Records)
1999 3o Essential Women of the Blues (House of Blues)
2000 the Toughest Girl Alive (Rounder/Bullseye Blues and Jazz)
2000 Best of Doo Wop Box set (Rhino Records)
2000 This House (a compilation CD for Nicole’s House/the Nicole Brown Charitable Foundation)
2001 any Women’s Blues (Rounder/Bullseye Blues and Jazz)
Films and Television Shows Featuring Candye’s Music:
The Chris Isaak Show (HBO) Queer as Folk (Showtimes) Heavy (starring Deborah Harry) the Girl Next Door (starring Stacy Valentine) Everything that Rises ( TNT Movie) HBO Sexbytes ( Episode #8, #12 and #18)
Candye has played with or supported: B.B.King, Ray Charles, the Cramps, Dr.John, Jack Johnson, Jon Butler, John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, Solomon Burke, Cyndi Lauper, Buddy Guy, Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, Etta James, Hal Ketchum, Canned Heat, Glenn Tilbrook, Wayne Hancock, Luther Alison, Reverend Horton Heat, the Paladins, Janis Martin, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Johnny Lang, Wanda Jackson, Marcia Ball, Dave Alvin, Phranc, Doug Sahm, Lou Ann Barton and Angela Strehli, Riders in the Sky, the Byrds, Junior Brown, Junior Watson, Junior Wells, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Denver, Mavis Staples, Dwight Yoakum, Buck Owens, Asleep At the Wheel, Joan Jett, the Derailers, El Vez, Lyle Lovett, K.D. Lang, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Warren Zevon, the Blasters, Koko Taylor, Keb Mo, Steve Earle, the Mighty Flyers, Roomful of Blues, Van Morrison, and many more.
