Candye Kane, San Diego music dynamo, dies at 54

Candye Kane may not have been “The Toughest Girl Alive,” as she sang on the rousing title track of her 2000 album, or a certified “Superhero,” as she sang with equal vigor on her 2009 album of the same name.

But this vibrant San Diego blues, swing and roots-rock dynamo was a tireless fighter who repeatedly battled against pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer for the past eight years. The disease claimed her life late Friday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

She was 54, although, as her son and drummer Evan Caleb Yearsley noted in a Saturday phone interview, “She always said she was younger.”

Time and again, Kane found the strength to return to the concert stage, sometimes literally from her hospital bed. Her final performance was a New Year’s Eve show at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. Her most recent U.S. tour was in December. It was preceded by a tour last summer of Europe and Israel.

“Candye was so strong,” said Sue Palmer, who was Kane’s pianist from 1991 to 1999 and performed with her last year. “ “I almost felt like she wanted to die on stage, because she loved what she was doing so much. Her will to live, and to keep making music, was pretty miraculous.”

Yearsley agreed. “For me, she really is an example of mind over matter,” he said. “It’s amazing to see any artist do this. But when it’s your mother, it’s extra special.”

A Ventura native, Candace Hogan was born Nov. 13, 1961, and grew up mostly in Los Angeles. She later legally changed her name to Candye Kane. While her life has yet to be made into a movie, she is the subject of the autobiographical musical “The Toughest Girl Alive,” which premiered at Moxie Theatre in 2011.

At the time of her birth, Kane’s father was in jail for embezzlement. When she was 9, her mother taught her how to shoplift. An unwed mother at 17, Kane soon began making adult films and using intravenous drugs. But her life was, ultimately, an inspiring tale of survival, redemption and inspiration.

“Candye had an amazing spirit, and anyone who met her instantly felt her positive energy and amazing sense of inclusiveness,” said San Diego Ballet Artistic Director Javier Velasco, who directed and co-wrote “The Toughest Girl Alive” musical.

“She brought that spirit to her art, to her music, so that when you watched a Candye Kane concert or the musical, it was such a positive intimate experience. That was at the core of what she did, exuding this wonderful energy about being alive.

A multiple San Diego Music Award winner, she recorded more than a dozen albums, earned an international following and championed the LGBT community, people of size and others who are disenfranchised.

Kane reveled in risque song lyrics and her stage demeanor could be proudly bawdy. But her tender heart and compassion for others was unmistakable, on stage and off. In 2012, she was the first recipient of the San Diego Music Awards’ Courage in Music Award.

“She had this healing impact and energy,” her son Yearsley said. “And she supported so many people and stood up for so many causes. People have to step back to digest all the amazing things she stood for — and also the music, of course.

“Being able to share time on the road with her, I really got to see her fans and how they reacted to who she was, her songs and what they meant to people. Some of her songs were so empowering that they changed peoples’ lives.”

Yearsley cited one particularly memorable moment — his mother’s July 4 performance at the 2009 Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon, in front of an audience that numbered in the tens of thousands.

“We were two or three songs into the set, and she stopped the band. She said: ‘I don’t usually do this, but I did it once at a San Diego Padres game, and I’m going to do it for you today,’ and she sang the national anthem. Everybody stood up and took off their hats. It was such an amazing day, and she was cancer-free at that time. I’ll never forget it.”

Palmer, speaking Saturday from backstage at San Diego’s annual Gator by the Bay festival, also credited Kane for her ability to connect with diverse audiences here and abroad. A number of performers at the festival Saturday made on-stage dedications to Kane.

“Candye always encouraged people to love their bodies, no matter how big or skinny they were, and a lot of gay people loved that,” Palmer said.

“She also she talked candidly about having cancer. She always had a positive message for her audience — ‘Live your life to the fullest’ — and she certainly did. She was a great entertainer, with a fabulous voice and a positive message. We played together a lot in France, and they really got her. The French loved her the way they love Jerry Lewis.”

Velasco and Kane’s guitarist, Laura Chavez, were both present at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center when the singer died Friday night. He credits Chavez with playing a vital role that helped Kane musically and personally.

“Laura and Candye collaborated on Candye’s last three or four albums and tours, and Laura really helped her enormously,” Velasco said. “She was always there to help and her contributions can’t be underestimated.”

No services have yet been set for Kane. She is survived by her two sons, Evan and Thomas; her mother and stepfather, Janet and Eugene Caleb; her two half-siblings, Christopher and Leslie Caleb; and her former husband, Thomas Yearsley, the bass guitarist and singer in acclaimed San Diego roots-rock band The Paladins.

george.varga@sduniontribune.com