Individually, the Neville Brothers had been part of the New Orleans music scene for many years, before Art Neville set up a new group with his brothers, consisting of Art himself (born December 17th, 1938), Charles (born December 28th, 1939), Aaron (born January 24th, 1941) and Cyril (born January 1950).
Their “Yellow Moon” album is the Neville Brothers’ most successful studio album to date, released on A&M Records in 1989. The entire album was recorded in New Orleans. The track on the album entitled “Healing Chant” won a Grammy Award for “Best Pop Instrumental Performance” in 1990. The album also features a really good version of the Sam Cooke classic “A Change Is Gonna Come”.
By the early 1990s the brothers began to receive international recognition, especially Aaron Neville on his solo album projects, notably “The Grand Tour”, which was certified platinum in 1993 and peaked at number thirty-seven for two weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart.
Aaron Neville had already achieved significant success with Linda Ronstadt on her triple-platinum certified album entitled “Cry Like A Rainstorm – Howl Like The Wind” which peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 Billboard Singles Chart. He recorded four duets with Linda Ronstadt.
One of the singles from the album, “Don’t Know Much”, became a million-seller according to the RIAA, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart week-ending 23rd December 1989 (2 weeks) and also on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles Chart at number one week-ending 28th October 1989 (5 weeks). The single also achieved great success on The Official UK Pop Singles Chart reaching number two in 1989. The song “Don’t Know Much” received a Grammy Award for Best Group Pop Vocal Performance. It is a beautiful song that fully deserved such success.
Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt
Photo: 1990 Grammy Awards: Alan Light (Wikimedia Commons)
The following year Aaron had another number one hit with Linda Ronstadt on the Adult Contemporary chart with “All My Life”, week-ending 3rd March 1990 (3 weeks), which won the award for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group” at the Grammy Awards Ceremony in 1991. Aaron Neville finally achieved success again as a solo artist with an old Main Ingredient classic, “Everybody Plays the Fool”, which topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles Chart week-ending 12th October 1991. The album received platinum certification in America and gold status in Canada.
During the 1990s, Aaron Neville had further successes with other solo projects with A&M Records. The label released the album “The Tattooed Heart” in the mid-1990. The album obtained gold certification, for over half a million copies sold in the United States, on 12th March 1996. Near the end of the 1990s another major success came with a seasonal album entitled “Aaron Neville’s Soul Christmas” that was certified by the RIAA on 26th January 1998, receiving a platinum plaque for over one million copies sold in America.
Aaron is certainly the most enduring and successful male solo artist to come out of New Orleans over the last fifty years! He has demonstrated his versatility and creative ability by mastering a range of different musical styles with great success, winning industry awards in the process. He is truly a musical and cultural ambassador for New Orleans’ creative and tourist industries and continues to deliver fresh and exciting sounds, along with his brothers, into the 21st Century, without missing a beat.
The Neville Brothers closed the show at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2008, three years after Hurricane Katrina had devastated parts of the city. The brothers disbanded in 2012 but returned to New Orleans in 2015 for a farewell concert.
The 1997 Compilation from Rhino Records.
