Marcia Ball, the celebrated artist and frequent visitor to many a Capital Region stage, has announced that she will be retiring from touring and performing.

“I must now share this with my fans and friends: I had a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, 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,” Ball said in a statement released Oct. 28 by Alligator Records.

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