Blues singer gains a following

By John Benson

Dana Fuchs was cast as Janis Joplin in the play ‘Love, Janis.’

Across the universe.

That’s literally and figuratively where New York City-based singer-songwriter Dana Fuchs has been the past few years.

After moving from her native Florida to the Big Apple around the turn of the century, the blues singer spent a few years in obscurity before forming the Dana Fuchs Band. From there, buzz spread throughout New York City about this powerful singer, which in turn led producers of the Janis Joplin off-Broadway play “Love, Janis” to cast Fuchs as the lead.

For a blues singer such as Fuchs, the role was tantamount to attending classic rock graduate school.

“Doing a part where you’re playing Janis Joplin four or five nights a week, singing 20 of her songs every night, definitely put my vocal chords in shape,” said Fuchs, calling from her New York City home. “And that’s what sort of started to put me on the map a little bit. So it’s like one door has sort of led to another.”

From there, Fuchs attracted the interest of director-screenwriter Julie Taymor for her 2007 feature film musical “Across the Universe,” which featured a story line told through Beatles songs. In a role Taymor crafted specifically for her, Fuchs plays Sadie, who in the movie sings such popular Fab Four tracks as “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?,” “Dear Prudence,” “Oh! Darling” and “Don’t Let Me Down.”

Even though the movie failed at the box office, Fuchs said it’s been platinum for her career.

“The movie has had even a bigger life on DVD,” Fuchs said. “It’s gotten sort of a word-of-mouth following that is phenomenal for me because then people say, ‘Is she just an actor who is singing or is she a real singer?’ So they Google me and see that’s what I actually do. It’s helped fill rooms in Europe and the U.S.”

She added, “It’s cool because I have the rock audience, I have the bluesy audience, I have the jam band audience, and then I have those who like the singer-songwriter thing.”

The songs currently in her set include “Strung Out” and “Songbird” (both from her 2003 debut, “Lonely for A Lifetime”), as well as “Across the Universe” songs and more. Despite the connection to Joplin and The Beatles, Fuchs said her style is somewhat different, channeling a more Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones vibe.

Though The Dana Fuchs Band is a full rock outfit, the singer is currently on the road performing with only her guitarist Jon Diamond. You can see the duo in action at her Cleveland debut tonight at the Beachland Ballroom.

“It’s not unplugged,” Fuchs said. “It’s still pretty rock ’n’ roll. I always have to tell people, ‘Look, I’m a singer-songwriter but it’s not going to be folk-y.’ It’s pretty raw and a stripped-down version of it, but the difference is I’m not pounding people with my awesome rhythm section.

“So it’ll be my guitarist and myself, but it’s still going to rock out. I play percussion and he straps on the harmonica and we stomp. It’s pretty raucous.”