AARON J. NEVILLE, THE AMERICAN R&B AND SOUL SINGER

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Aaron Neville, the American R&B and soul singer, who was born on a day like today in 1941.

 

Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is a retired American R&B and soul singer. 

 

He has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that reached number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. Tell It Like It Is, from 1966, also reached the top position on the Soul chart for five weeks.

He has also recorded with his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril as the Neville Brothers and is the father of singer/keyboards player Ivan Neville. Neville is of mixed African-American, Caucasian, and North American Indigenous (Choctaw) heritage.

The first of his singles that was given airplay outside of New Orleans was Over You (1960). Neville's first major hit single was Tell It Like It Is, released on a small New Orleans label, Par-Lo, co-owned by local musician/arranger George Davis, a friend from school, and band-leader Lee Diamond. The song topped Billboard's R&B chart for five weeks in 1967 and also reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (behind I'm a Believer by the Monkees). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It was not the label's only release, as some sources claim. At least five other Par-Lo singles, three of them by Neville himself, are known to exist.

Neville released his first solo album since the late 1960s in 1986 with the independent release Orchid in The Storm. 

In 1989, Neville teamed up with Linda Ronstadt on the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, How l Like the Wind which included four duets by the pair.

During 1993 and 1994, Neville expanded his repertoire as a recording artist and ventured into making country music.

Neville's next country music project involved appearing on 1994's Rhythm, Country and Blues, an album of duets featuring R&B and Country artists performing renditions of classic country and R&B songs.

Aaron's 1995 R&B flavored release, The Tattooed Heart, featuring covers of classics by Bill Withers and Kris Kristofferson went gold, while 1997's pop-orientated... To Make Me Who I Am included songwriting contributions from contemporary hitmakers Babyface and Diane Warren as well as two new duets with Ronstadt, including a cover of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

Neville signed to SonyBMG's new Burgundy Records label in late 2005 and recorded an album of songs by Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke and others for Bring It On Home...The Soul Classics, released on September 19, 2006.

Neville's career has included work for television, movies and sporting events. Neville sang the US national anthem in the movie The Fan starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes.

More information: Instagram-Aaron Neville

I balance with prayer and music. 

I sing every day.

Aaron Neville