Happy Birthday, Aaron Neville!
John Dunlop
R&B and soul vocalist Aaron Neville was born in New Orleans on January 24, 1941, into one of the most prolific music families of the City. Neville has recorded as a solo artist, with his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril as The Neville Brothers, and he is the father of singer and keyboard player Ivan Neville, and vocalist and rap artist Jason Neville. In addition, his uncle, George "Big Chief Jolly" Landry, was lead singer of the Mardi Gras Indian group The Wilde Tchoupitoulas.
During the course of his career, he has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits, including three that went to #1 on the Billboardcharts. Neville’s debut single, “Tell It Like It Is”, was #1 on the Soul chart for five weeks in 1967. In 1989, Neville recorded the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind with Linda Ronstadt, which included the #1 Grammy-winning hits “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life”. In 1991, his cover of “Everybody Plays the Fool” reached #1, and some of his other hits include “Don’t Take Away My Heaven”, “Can’t Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song)”, and “Hercules”. In 1993 and 1994, Neville ventured into country music, and recorded Patsy Cline’s 1961 hit “I Fall to Pieces” with Trisha Yearwood, resulting in a Grammy Award for the duo in in 1995. Neville made additional collaborative recordings over the years, and he continues to perform and tour to the delight of his league of fans worldwide! Today we celebrate this musical great’s birthday!
