Uninhibited Candye Kane True to Self

Candye Kane took the long, hard way to the stage.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, she got pregnant at age 16 and went on welfare for a while after dropping out of high school. Eventually, she found work as a phone-sex operator, stripper and model for such magazines as Hustler.

Kane also dabbled in music over the years, spurred in part by the example of Bessie Smith, the legendary blues singer who spoke openly about feminist politics and her bisexuality in the 1920s. Her declaratory “Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” may seem tame today, but it was certainly bold back then.

Kane, also bisexual, was pretty bold herself.

Whenever she could, she practiced singing while listening to show tunes, country, jazz and blues. When her confidence peaked, she plied the L.A. club circuit, playing both covers and originals.

“I was told by the L.A. music establishment that if I lost some weight, downplayed my sexuality, didn’t talk about my titillating past, and had sex with the [record company] guy, then maybe I’d get a record deal,” recalled Kane, who had gotten attention as much for her 44 bust as for her blues, swing and country music. “But my musician friends like Dave Alvin and Dwight Yoakam kept telling me, ‘No, Candye, be honest about yourself. . . . That’s your strength.”’

It looked as if she had caught a break in 1986 when Epic Records signed her to do an album of country music. But the brief association ended in disappointment, Kane said, because the label marketed her, falsely, as a fallen woman who had renounced her past to become a born-again Christian.

Kane, who will appear Wednesday night with the Swingin’ Armadillos at the Long Beach Museum of Art, now records for Antones/Discovery Records, which was recently purchased by Sire Records. Her third release for the label came out in March. Playfully titled “Diva La Grande,” it’s a respectable swing and blues effort featuring special guests Dave Alvin, Robert “Big Sandy” Williams and Texas bluesman Derek O’Brien.

Unlike traditional blues recordings, “Diva La Grande”--with 10 of its 14 songs written or co-written by Kane--explores such themes as bisexuality (“I’m in Love With a Girl”) and progressive-minded religion (“The Lord Was A Woman”).

“Musically, we’re borrowing from traditional roots sources, but I think the subject matter is new and provocative for the genre because there’s more going on here than just drinking, cheatin’ and heartbreak,” Kane explained during a recent phone interview from her Encinitas home.

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Because of her unconventional past and large physical features, Kane has found respect tough to come by in some circles. She readily admits that her freewheelin’--and sometimes risque--stage act is a double-edged sword: It may serve as a liberating force, but it can also trivialize her music.

“By playing the piano with my [breasts], or holding a drink with them, I do use my body as a way to hopefully make people relax, and to try and de-stigmatize sex,” said Kane, who also works as an activist for a national organization called COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics). “I’m completely uninhibited onstage, and that can sometimes diminish the music’s impact to a degree.

“But what I’m trying to say is that it’s OK to feel good about sex and one’s body--even if you’re a big girl like me.”

Or like Big Mama Thornton or Etta James, two women whom Kane admires for their “groundbreaking work and flaunting all that they’ve had.”

“I’ve opened for Etta four times, and she just seems totally unaware of her size, which is really a good thing,” she said. “There’s a smoldering sexuality to her. I mean, she’s nasty.”

Kane appears alongside James, Smith and other legends on the “30 Essential Women of the Blues” compilation, released last year on the House of Blues label.

Having just returned from a three-week European tour, Kane shakes her head at what she views as backward sexual attitudes in the United States.

“Abroad, people go topless on the beach all the time with no problems,” she said. “And interestingly, some families--not just men--actually complained to a festival promoter last week after I didn’t go topless while playing the piano. It’s just so much more open and healthy over there. In America, sex is [considered] something dirty that’s done in the dark.

“Society treats it as one big contradiction. We don’t talk want to talk about AIDS or teen pregnancies and advertise the use of condoms, yet we’re obsessed with who our president slept with 10 years ago. Tell me, does that make any sense?”

With sexual currents flowing freely through her material and stage show, how will Kane handle the usually family-friendly atmosphere of the museum?

“Well, my 8-year-old boy will be there,” offered Kane, who is married to Paladins’ bassist Tom Yearsley and also has a 19-year-old son. “I tend to taper my show to each particular audience. Like, I played recently at the New York Gay Pride Day, and that is not the same show I will be playing in Long Beach, if you know what I mean.”

“Because I’m a parent, I think I know what’s acceptable for children and what’s not. It’ll be a nice family show.”

* Candye Kane will appear Wednesday at the Long Beach Museum of Art, 2300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. James Intveld opens the show at 7 p.m. $8-$11, children under 12 are free. (562) 439-2119.