I've had problems with my throat over the years, playing with loud bands for years, and I've had bruised vocal chords and nodules.
— Aaron Neville
A lot of my solo albums were produced by different people who had their idea of what songs I should do, and they had me doing a lot of ballads.
I balance with prayer and music. I sing every day.
I buried Joel on our 48th anniversary. I had been with her since I was 16.
I never really got paid for 'Tell It Like Is,' but I look back at it and say God knew what he was doing; he probably figured that if I had got money back in them days, I wouldn't be here now. That's okay. I'm here. And I'm still singing the song.
I just sing what I feel in my heart. I ain't trying to prove nothing, and I don't think I ever did.
Doo-wop is the true music to me, man. Doo-wop was what nurtured me and grew me into who I am, and I guess even when I was in school, the teacher probably thought I had ADD or something every day, because I'd be beating on the desks, singing like the Flamingos or the Spaniels or Clyde McPhatter or somebody.
I might see something on TV and get inspired to write about it. I can't sit down and plan to write. It has to come to me in my head like someone telling me the words.
We used to play football on the levee, with no shirts on in the summer - August in New Orleans - and my skin would turn red. They'd call me Redskin, Red Apache, then it turned around to Apache Red.
So I went in front of the judge, and I had my St. Jude prayer book in my pocket and my St. Jude medal. And I'm standing there and that judge said I was found guilty, so he sentenced me to what the law prescribed: one to 14 years.
Me and my partners had been stealing cars for a while.
I really like listening to music in my car.
We lived together as kids, and now we're taking care of each other as men.
So now I have a collection of poetry by Aaron Neville and I give it to people I want to share it with. I'd like to publish it someday.
If you had told me I'd be making 62 tomorrow, I'd say you were lying.
My friends and I were wild and we liked to joy-ride.
Growing up my mother played Sarah Vaughan and Nat Cole in the house regularly.
I think the Creator renews me.
People are living a lot longer these days and not preparing for it. I'm in the gym and, you know, using my voice.
When I get down to Louisiana, I get to have a taste of some of that great food.
'Yellow Moon' was a poem. My wife at the time, Joel - she's dead now - it was our 25th anniversary. She had the chance to go on a cruise with her sister. And I'm home with the kids and looking up, and I saw the big moon, and I just started writing.
I didn't just get to 75 years by tiptoeing. I had to work hard sometimes.
I've done all different kinds of genres - doo-wop, pop, funk, gospel, country, jazz, you name it.
I even done a doo-wop version of the Mickey Mouse march.
It's up to God to do the judging. You haven't walked in my boots, so how are you going to judge me?
I owe it all to Jesus.
But I knew if I ran I'd never be able to sing, so I had to take my punishment.
I was very surprised when I heard that I had been chosen to receive the James Cardinal Gibbons Award.
When I record something, I'll take a drive and just listen.
I just sing. You have to use it.
I was raised Catholic, but my father's people were Methodist, so we went to both churches.
Every morning I wake up and thank God.
I think things happened the way they did for a reason.
I worked with the Neville Brothers for 40-some years on the highway, and up and down since I can remember - funk from New Orleans.
Sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake up with a song in my head, and I have to finish it so I can fall back asleep.
I eat a lot of fish to stay healthy.
I write poetry on my iPhone. I've got about 100 poems on there.
Without faith, I don't think I'd be here.
When I'm singing, I connect the dots with notes.
The first time I recorded without Allen Toussaint, I wanted to do doo-wop. Everything I've done since then has got some kind of doo-wop essence in it.
Through the years, I found we had Native American blood in us. My great-grandmother came from the island of Martinique, and they hooked up with the Native Americans of Louisiana.
I always tell people I want to see the world through His eyes, and I want people to see Him in me.
Until I went to rehab, I didn't understand what it did.
The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience.
It's a 360-degree sound experience. Like you're in the middle of the band. A lot of people have the technology to play the format, so why not put it out there. It sounds great.
I sing around the house, in the shower.
I feel it was just a few years ago I was running around in short pants.
When you were a kid, a day was a long time and a year was a long time.
I always loved Sam Cooke, because he seemed very versatile. He sang gospel, soul, blues, pop music.
