There’s really no other female vocalist who has performed in Monterey as consistently – and to as many crowds – as Carla Blackwell. When she sings this Friday and Saturday at Sly McFly’s, the youthful singer will remind locals why she has become one of the area’s most irresistible live acts.

“Monterey was one of the first cities to embrace my musical and performance style, so it became a place we play regularly,” Blackwell says. “It wasn’t planned that way; it just sort of happened, and we love performing here.”

It’s easy to see why Sly’s regularly invites Blackwell to perform: She looks like Eva Mendes, without the mole, and she sings with a compelling self-assuredness that always rouses her audience out of their seats and onto the dance floor.

“My mom said I sang before I learned to talk,” the San Jose native says. “Music is in my blood. My dad played a lot of Motown, and when my grandmother took care of me she played a lot of Gladys Knight.”

When Blackwell was 16 years old, she got her first taste of singing with a band in a live setting. She knew right away that performing was her calling. But she would have to get resourceful in order to master her craft.

“I realized I wanted to sing, but my parents couldn’t afford singing lessons,” she says. “So I spent time a lot of time listening to music and teaching myself.”

Since she was a teenager, Blackwell has performed hundreds of shows with six bands. Four years ago, she put together her own group.

“I was tired of taking orders and being told what to sing,” she says.

Blackwell and her band – drummer Maurice Miles, keyboardist Gene Ginn, guitarist Bill Ireton and bassist Jay Goudeau – have a vast repertoire that includes tunes by Joss Stone and Madonna alongside R&B classics by Aretha Franklin and Barry White. On many – including Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You” – Blackwell is moving across the stage, only stopping to close her eyes and focus all her energies on a particularly soulful refrain.

New Latin tinges may be in the works: Last year, Blackwell toured Brazil for two weeks, culminating in a performance at the annual Jazz Festival at Bourbon Street Music Café in Sao Paulo.

“It was really cool that the kids wanted to be around me and ask for my autograph; they were very open and accepting of me, though I don’t speak the language,” Blackwell says. “It was flattering and humbling that the people appreciated what I was doing and probably my most memorable experience performing.”

Blackwell hopes 2010 will be a big year for her career; she plans on going back to Brazil, playing larger venues beyond the local joints and finishing some new material.

“I have a lot of ideas for where I want to go,” she says.

Though Blackwell looks to play more internationally and in urban centers like San Francisco, she’ll never deny her Monterey fans.

“The people around here have probably seen me grow up a bit from all the bands I used to be a part of and really embrace me solo,” Blackwell says. “There will always be a special place in my heart for [Monterey], because this is where it all began for me.”

CARLA BLACKWELL plays 9pm Friday, Feb. 5, and Saturday, Feb. 6, at Sly McFly’s, 700A Cannery Row, Monterey. Free. 649-8050.