TEXAS ROOTS AND BLUES SINGER, SONGWRITER AND PIANIST MARCIA BALL ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM TOURING

        

 

On Tuesday, October 28, celebrated five-time GRAMMY Award nominated artist Marcia Ball announced she will be retiring from touring and performing. Recently diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), Ball will spend time in treatment and under doctor's care. Ever a music fan, Ball assures her fans she'll be "out listening to music every chance I get."

Read Ball's full statement below:
As many of you may know or have heard, over recent months, I have been struggling with voice issues and have not been able to perform as I have always done. This has been frustrating for me since performing with my band and my musical friends has been my life.   

So, I must now share this with my fans and friends:  I had a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN recently, and I have finally received some answers, though not the ones I had hoped for. I have ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), and I need to share that with my family, friends, fans and many music collaborators and associates. 

The support I have received from Kurland, my booking agency, my record label, Alligator Records, all the hundreds of venues I have played at over the decades along with the thousands of fans I have met and become friends with over so many years has been a real joy. 

It is impossible to predict how this ALS diagnosis will impact my life fully. At this early stage however, I know that performing is something I can no longer do. I can't sing.

Sadly, I have canceled all the shows I had confirmed for the foreseeable future. The absolute last thing I want to do is to cancel shows. My sincere apologies.

I will be entering a treatment program at UT San Antonio, and I am hopeful that the progression of symptoms is slow to appear. ALS has no known cure at this time, but there are a few drugs that may be prescribed.

My family, circle of friends, and band mates are providing me support as this news sinks in.  Adjustments will be necessary but one thing that won’t change is my love and support for the music community, and you can be sure I will be out listening to music every chance I get.  

Thank you for your understanding and allowing me the time and space I need to make these unexpected life adjustments.  
 
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Orange, Texas in 1949 to a family whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across the border from Texas. Seeing an Irma Thomas performance in 1962 and falling under the spell of Professor Longhair's piano playing convinced Ball to seek out a career in music. She led a couple of early psychedelic country rock bands before pursuing her solo career from her adopted hometown of Austin, Texas.

After her 1978 Capitol Records debut, Circuit Queen, and a series of successful albums on Rounder Records, Ball joined Alligator in 2001. Altogether she's won eleven Blues Music Awards, fourteen Living Blues Awards, and received five GRAMMY Award nominations. She has been inducted into the Gulf Coast Music Hall Of Fame, the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame and the Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame. The Texas State legislature named her the official 2018 Texas State Musician. As her hometown Austin Chronicle says, “What’s not to like about Marcia Ball?”

Ball's albums are filled with fresh, original songs, as she easily draws her listeners deep into her music with instantly memorable melodies and imaginative imagery. Her songs paint vibrant musical pictures richly detailed with recognizable characters, regional flavors, universal themes and colorful scenes, both real and imagined. Living Blues declares, “Her originals sound like timeless classics and southern soul masterpieces that no one else can imitate.”

The Boston Globe calls Ball “a compelling storyteller” who plays “an irresistible, celebratory blend of rollicking New Orleans piano, Louisiana swamp rock and smoldering Texas blues.” The New York Times says, “Marcia Ball plays two-fisted New Orleans barrelhouse piano and sings in a husky, knowing voice about all the trouble men and women can get into on the way to a good time.” The Houston Chronicle says simply, “She’s as perfect as an artist can be.”