Candye Kane's life hasn't been sweet. She was born in East Los Angeles to a body painting hippie musician father and a dysfunctional mother who taught her to shoplift at the age of nine. At 10, she gave birth to her first son and soon after became a sex worker to provide for herself and her child.

At 16, Kane purged her dream of becoming a professional musician, forsaking a music scholarship at USC Music Conservatory, and instead started a modeling career. She appeared on the covers of over 150 magazines, including Hustler. However, because of her full figure, it was a difficult scene.

"I was marginalized because I was a large-sized woman. If you like thin blondes in the sex biz, you are considered normal, but if you like Asian, black or large, you are fetishized," says Kane, who is 5'5" and weighs 252 pounds. "In mainstream media, large-sized women are seldom featured on magazine covers until they lose weight."

Her weight was also an issue in the late '80s when CBS/Epic dropped her from the label when they found out about her checkered past. Managers and agents encouraged her to lose weight and renounce her past, but instead, Kane discovered the blues.

It was a perfect fit.

Today, Kane has released six CDs and plays 250 dates a year all over the world, including once at Gil's Cafe and a recent gig at Summerfest. Her oldest son, now 24, is her drummer.

"My live shows are a burlesque jump blues extravaganza," she says. "They are a feel good revival meeting for anyone who doesn't fit in ... My show is a mixture of Mae West meets Etta James meets Bette Midler. It's a gospel love fest by way of Las Vegas."

Over the years, Kane has shared the stage with Fear, Black Flag, Social Distortion, The Circle Jerks, Los Lobos, The Blasters and Dwight Yoakum. Her talent has appeared on countless television shows, including "Roseanne," "The Chris Isaak Show" and "Queer As Folk." She has headlined the Monterey and San Francisco Blues Festivals, The Notodden Blues Festival in Norway, The Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Ore. and many more.

She has also written numerous columns, including one for the local 'zine Riverwurst, edited by Tea Krulos.

Kane describes her audience as a mixture of the disenfranchised, including bikers, blues fans, fat girls, queers, porn fans, feminists, men who love fat girls, rockabilly kids and everyday folk flock.

She is dedicated to sending a message through music about love and empowerment, especially for larger women.

"Large people must learn to be human bullsh-t filters," she says. "We must block out the negativity all around us and only let in the positive. We must continue to move our big bodies in the interests of good health and realize that the diet industry is a multi million-dollar business to make us feel inadequate."

Although Kane has a rigorous touring schedule, including Israel (she is Jewish) and Germany later this year, Kane will continue to write for Riverwurst and plans to make it back to Brew City to visit family and play live shows.

"I love Milwaukee and all the old brick buildings. I was a big 'Laverne and Shirley' fan so I always had a crush on Milwaukee," she says.

Candye Kane's Web site is candyekane.com