Aaron Neville 'Tell It Like It Is'

I have always loved Sam Cooke's voice. He is and always will be my favourite singer. But if anyone can come close to matching him in terms of beauty and intensity it is Aaron Neville. Aaron has the voice of an angel which is in marked contrast to his muscular body. He had huge success as a solo artist, including his 1967 hit 'Tell It Like It Is', and went on to be the heart and soul of the greatest of all New Orleans groups the Neville Brothers. Now Aaron has written his autobiography, appropriately called 'Tell It Like It Is'. It tells of his poor beginnings, his struggles against drug addiction, his time in jail and his eventual breakthrough. He describes his voice as 'the strength of my father, the tenderness of my mother and the innocence of my childhood', but anyone who has witnessed Aaron singing acapella knows that it goes beyond that. One of the driving forces behind me going to New Orleans for the first time in 1989 was the great Neville Brothers album 'Yellow Moon'. I saw the brothers perform and Aaron singing solo. I loved the band's late night performances at Tipitina's which seemed to be endless. Hearing Aaron perform in the gospel tent at Jazzfest was inspiring, even to a non-believer like me. Over the years I've seen Aaron many times, both solo and with his brothers. He never failed to move me, even on songs that I would ordinarily dismiss as being too cliched such as 'Ave Maria'. On my recent trip to New Orleans this spring I held out hope that he would perform at Jazzfest, perhaps at the tribute show to Walter 'Wolfman' Washington, which attracted the likes of irma Thomas and Jon Cleary. But it was not to be. His book makes clear that he retired after the COVID pandemic and that he will not be performing again. He says that 'I don't want to be onstage singing and not sounding like Aaron Neville.' He seems to be happily retired with his wife, dog and cats in New York's Hudson Valley. And at the age of 82 we can't really expect him to come out of retirement. It's a shame, but we still have his beautiful voice recorded forever. So I am grateful for the memories and the records and wish him a long and happy retirement.

Here's a photo of Aaron at the Porretta Soul Festival in 2006.