Marcia Ball
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Marcia Ball (born March 20, 1949, Orange, Texas[1]) is an American blues singer and pianist, born in Orange, Texas but who grew up in Vinton, Louisiana.[1] She was described in USA Today as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist...where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp meet." [2]. The Boston Globe described her music as "as irresistable celebratory blend of rollicking, two-fisted New Orleans piano, Louisiana swamp-rock and smoldering Texas blues from a contemporary storyteller." [3]
Career
Born into a musical family, Ball began playing piano at age 5, and showed an early interest in New Orleans style piano playing, as exemplified by Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, and James Booker. She has named Irma Thomas, the New Orleans vocalist, as her chief vocal inspiration. Ball entered Louisiana State University in the late 1960s as an English major.[1] In college, she played in a psychedelic rock and roll band, called Gum.[1] In 1970, at age 21, she started a progressive country band called Freda and the Firedogs in Austin, Texas, and began her solo career in 1974.[4]
Ball is known for her piano style, which shows elements of zydeco, swamp blues, Louisiana blues and boogie woogie.[5] She began her recording career as a solo artist with Rounder Records in the 1980s and early 1990s.[4] In 2001, she joined Chicago-based Alligator Records.
Her Rounder album, Sing It!, which also featured vocalists Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson,released in January 1998 was nominated for both a Grammy Award and a Blues Music Award as "Best Contemporary Blues Album." Ball also received the 1998 Blues Music Award for "Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year" and "Best Blues Instrumentalist-Keyboards."[6] In 2002 she won “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” for her album Presumed Innocent. She won the “Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year” in 2004 for her album So Many Rivers, the same year she won “Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year-Female.” She won the Best Blues Instrumentalist-Keyboards again in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009. Her 2003 Alligator release, So Many Rivers, was nominated for a Grammy award, as was her 2005 release, Live! Down The Road and her 2008 release, Peace, Love & BBQ. She was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 1990.
Ball, who has established herself as an important player in the club scenes in both New Orleans, Louisiana and Austin continues to work at festivals and clubs throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.[1]
Discography
- 2008 Peace, Love & BBQ (Alligator)
- 2007 JazzFest Live (MunckMusic\Munck)
- 2005 Live! Down The Road (Alligator Records)
- 2004 Live at Waterloo Records (Alligator Records)
- 2003 So Many Rivers (Alligator)
- 2001 Presumed Innocent (Alligator Records)
- 1998 Sing It! (Rounder) (with Tracy Nelson and Irma Thomas)
- 1997 Let Me Play With Your Poodle (Rounder)
- 1994 Blue House (Rounder)
- 1990 Dreams Come True (Antone's) (with Lou Ann Barton and Angela Strehli)
- 1989 Gatorhythms (Rounder)
- 1985 Hot Tamale Baby (Rounder)
- 1984 Soulful Dress (Rounder)
- 1978 Circuit Queen (Capitol)
- 1972 Freda and the Firedogs
Filmography
- 2006 New Orleans Music in Exile
- 2003 The Blues, episode Piano Blues directed by Clint Eastwood
Festival appearances
- New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - 2007, 2008, 2009
- Waterfront Blues Festival (Portland, OR) - 2007
- National Folk Festival (USA) - 2005
- Austin City Limits Music Festival - 2004
- Monterey Jazz Festival - 2002
- Thursday at the Square - 2002
- Long Beach Blues Festival - 1996
- San Francisco Blues Festival - 1984
See also
- List of blues musicians
- List of boogie woogie musicians
- List of Louisiana blues musicians
- List of Swamp blues musicians
- List of people from Texas
- List of Austinites
- Music of Austin
- Lake Eden Arts Festival
References
- ^ a b c d e Allmusic biography
- ^ Gundersen, Edna. USA Today, February 5, 2006
- ^ Gilbert, Andrew (19 February 2006), "A Gulf Coast treasure breaks out", Boston Globe
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 90. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ^ Blues.about.com biography
- ^ The Rosebud Agency Bio
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official Marcia Ball website
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
- Template:Myspace
- Marcia Ball at Facebook
- Fan site
- Another fan website
- Le Show interview: Shearer, Harry (May 8, 2005). "le Show". HarryShearer.com. Retrieved January 5, 2009.