Capasso’s Texas-Born Blues Find True Hues in California

A few years back, singer Francesca Capasso left her native Texas with a mission.

“I knew I had to get away from Texas,” she said.

The daughter of an Italian-American father from New York and a Mexican-American mother from Texas, Capasso was ready for a change by the time she finished high school.

Packing her bags was nothing new for the young woman. Her father was a U.S. Secret Service agent, and the family moved around quite a bit but always seemed to come back to the Houston area.

“I had to grow up in Texas, and when you’re artistic, or a little bit different, people there want you to be like them,” she said. “I needed to be in a place that was a bit more free.”

And since she had already decided upon a music career, Los Angeles seemed the natural choice.

“Since I gotta get outta there, California’s gotta be the place,” she said.

Capasso, who performs this Friday at the Studio City Bar and Grill, arrived in California in the late 1980s. Things looked bleak at first: she wound up living for several months in a KOA Campground in Sylmar. But soon she was making the L.A. club scene, never to look back on the Lone Star State.

Capasso said she’s learned to take in stride the ups and downs of the roller coaster that is the recording industry. She was signed to a development deal with Columbia Records and made some demos, but nothing came of it. Later, she got a record deal with the BMG label in Germany. But, again, the deal fizzled. Capasso says she doesn’t take such business decisions personally.

So like many others before her, Capasso keeps performing in town and on the road. That road has taken her across the sea a few times.

“I really love Europe, especially when the seasons change,” she said. “I feel really great when I travel.”

She also met her husband, actor Reiner Schone, in Germany.

She and Schone now live in Agua Dulce. Schone has a recurring role on TV’s “Babylon 5” and can also be seen in the feature film “Mortal Kombat.” And he’s even been known to join his wife onstage, singing the blues in German.

Capasso describes her music as funky, soulful blues with a rock edge.

Growing up, she listened to a wide variety of artists, including fellow Texans Janis Joplin, Lou Ann Barton, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughn. She likes her music to make people dance.

“If my body isn’t moving, something isn’t right,” she said.

On stage, Capasso covers Joplin’s songs “Mercedes Benz” and “Piece of My Heart,” and she reminds some reviewers of the 1970s star with the passionate, hard-edged voice. But where Joplin’s edge was rather rough-hewn, Capasso’s is a smooth, fine cut. Her original music has a great pop sensibility.

Her band includes guitarist Craig Banks, drummer Blair Sinta, bassist Michael Be Holden and keyboardist Marshall Thompson.

Capasso performed at the Women in Blues for Children With AIDS benefit last summer at the Classroom in Northridge. The battle against AIDS is personal for her.

One of her songs, “In My Dreams,” is dedicated to her late father, who died in 1989 of complications from AIDS, which he contracted through a blood transfusion.

“I was out here and he was in Texas,” she said. “My dad was my biggest fan. I feel that he’s with me all the time.”

But AIDS is not the only cause Capasso supports. A portion of the proceeds from her latest recording is slated to go to the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks.

BE THERE

Francesca and the Flames perform Friday night at the Studio City Bar and Grill, 11002 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. (818) 763-7912. Also, they perform Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at the Classroom, 8333 Tampa Blvd., Northridge. (818) 885-0250.