Aaron Neville - A Classic In The Making

The American soul artist and R&B singer, Aaron Neville was born in 24th January, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 1966 saw him make his debut with “Tell It like It Is” which was a major hit on the charts of Billboard R&B. However, Neville didn’t make it to the Billboard charts until the year 1989 when Linda Ronstadt tied up with him on three duet numbers in a row, namely “Don’t Know Much”, “All My Life” and “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby”. Among these three songs, the first two songs made it to the top of the Adult Contemporary charts.

Neville is credited with working on singles numbering to approximately 20. Aaron Neville is known not only for his solo performances, but also for being one of the Neville Brothers. Aaron Neville comes from an African American and Native American lineage, and his performances also reveal the Cajun influence. The other hits by Aaron Neville include the numbers like “Everybody Plays the Fool”, “Don’t Take Away My Heaven”, “Hercules” and “Can’t Stop My Heart from Loving You”. In 2005, he had to migrate to Memphis, Tennessee before the Hurricane Katrina hit.

Following the storm, he migrated to Nashville and returned to his native land, resulting in many changes to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which forced the Neville Brothers not to participate. It was in 2008 that Aaron and the Neville Brothers returned to the fest as it maintained its tradition and continued for seven days in a row. Neville also performed in “Louisiana 1927” for Randy Newman during a concert for the Hurricane Relief on 2nd September 2005.

Aaron also signed with Sony BMG, new Burgundy Records and worked on an album of some of the classic soul songs done by Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke. The Soul Classics by Aaron Neville was a September release. This album, which was produced by Stewart Levine, offers tie-ups between Aaron and Chaka Khan, Chris Botti, David Sanborn, Art Neville, and Mavis Staples. The first single of the album was “It’s All Right” the remaking of The Impressions’ which was a 1963 classic. The U.S. National Anthem was sung by Neville in the movie ‘The Fan’. Neville also sang at Spring Stampede in 1994.

Aaron Neville has performed the theme music for the Fisher-Price Little People which is a children’s TV series. He recorded the Mickey Mouse March in 1988, and once again in 2006, Neville sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” where he was accompanied by artists like Aretha Franklin and Dr John. Additionally, Aaron performed for the songs “Great Heart”, “Bring Back the Magic”, “Homemade Music”, My Barracuda” and “Smart Woman” for Jimmy Buffett’s Hot Water. Neville made a guest appearance on a TV show ‘The Young and the Restless’, where he sang the hit numbers “Stand by Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Ivan Neville, Aaron Neville’s son, has also taken up music as his career. Neville was also included in the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday.

A few of his other popular numbers are Orchid in the Storm, Warm Your Heart, Aaron Neville’s Soulful Christmas, Devotion, To Make Me Who I Am and Love Songs.

TJ Grooves - Soul Music TV & Rare Soul Grooves.com