The Neville Brothers

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The Neville Brothers are an American band from New Orleans . They mix R&B , soul and jazz in their music . All four band members are / were biological brothers.

Band members

  • Art (actually Arthur Lanon; * December 17, 1937 - July 22, 2019), keyboards, vocals
  • Charles (born December 28, 1938 - April 26, 2018), saxophone, flute, vocals
  • Aaron (born January 24, 1941), keyboards, vocals, also known as a solo artist
  • Cyril (born January 10, 1948), percussion, vocals

biography

The beginning

The four brothers grew up in New Orleans, where they come into contact with the music typical of the city and the southern states of the USA from the very beginning . The sound of the marching bands , a kind of " Dixieland - marching music ", which was carried through the whole city by large, military-like parades (where this form of music also originated), was particularly formative for them . Art, the oldest, made his first musical experiences with a marching band, the "The Hawketts", at his high school. In 1954 this band recorded the song "Mardi Gras Mambo" on record. The two younger brothers Charles and Aaron also played in the school band at first.

First recordings and The Meters

Aaron Neville achieved a first notable success in 1960 with "Over You". His distinctive voice played a not insignificant role in this: a throaty, haunting falsetto voice and his unmistakable vibrato . It was not until six years later that he was able to build on the success of "Over You"; In 1966 he had the next hit with “ Tell It Like It Is ”, which was then recorded again in 1982 by the “Neville Brothers” on their “Nevillization” albums. He was now of 13 other artists ge covert .

Aaron's brother Art also began a solo career in the early 1960s and gained regional fame, which motivated him to continue. In 1967 he founded the band "Art Neville & The Sounds", in which his brothers Aaron and Charles worked as sound engineers. As a result, Charles was increasingly introduced to the music business. “Art Neville & The Sounds” were quite successful, so they signed a studio band with “Sensu Enterprises” and performed as a backing band with Robert Palmer .

Art and Cyril wanted to be more than just studio musicians and developed a new musical goal. In 1968 they decided to perform as " The Meters " with a groove-based R&B style .

Meanwhile, Charles was hired by BB King in New York City . There he also works with various jazz bands. During this time, Charles came into contact with drugs and was sentenced to three years in prison for possession of marijuana on his return to New Orleans . After his release from prison he joins "The Meters".

During this time the "Rolling Stones" became aware of the band. They liked the heavy New Orleans funk and so “The Meters” appeared as the opening act on one of the world tours of the “Rolling Stones”. In 1976, “The Meters” split up despite their success.

The Neville Brothers

In 1977 the formation "Neville Brothers" was founded, which now musically united all four brothers. Initially, the success was rather moderate. Her first record deal with Capitol Records was terminated immediately after her first album. Three years later they received musical support from Bette Midler . In 1981 they got a new record deal with A&M . However, the album "Fiyo on the Bayou" recorded for this label was not a commercial success either, so the record contract was canceled again here. The Neville Brothers remained critics favorites with little commercial success.

The change to the independent label "Tiny Black" then brought some success again, so that the three albums released from 1982, of which the first two were live albums, sold quite well. At that time they also re-recorded the tracks "Tell It Like It Is" (Aaron Neville, 1966) and "Caravan" by Duke Ellington , which was well received by the audience.

In 1987 EMI signed the Nevilles and they were even able to work with Keith Richards and Carlos Santana . But here, too, the odyssey of the record company change continued, because contrary to expectations, the album "Uptown" recorded for EMI was not a bestseller either.

So the Neville Brothers switched back to A&M, where they recorded the album "Yellow Moon" - with a Creole character - in 1989 under the direction of Daniel Lanois . With the single "Sister Rosa" they finally made it into the international hit lists. The success was also due to the fact that Daniel Lanois could empathize well with the musical ideas of the Neville Brothers, and also had great experience as a producer.

On the album "Brother's Keeper" from 1990, they were finally able to assert themselves with their mixture of gospel , rhythm and blues and funk and also reached a larger worldwide audience. However, the other CDs that were published later also remained without a high level of awareness.

Aaron Neville continued to work as a solo artist. The group "Neville Brothers" released other albums together in the 1990s. On their current album from 2004 "Walkin 'in the Shadow of Life" they include Aaron's son Ivan and Arts son Ian in their projects. Both sons have made a name for themselves independently and play together in the band Dumpstaphunk . Ivan has also worked with Bonnie Raitt , Chaka Khan , Keith Richards and the Spin Doctors .

In the 4th quarter of 2013, Cyril Neville's solo album “Magic Honey” was included in the PdSK best list in the “Blues and blues related” category.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1981 Fiyo on the Bayou - - - - US166 (3 weeks)
US
First publication: 1981
1987 Treacherous - A History of The Neville Brothers - - - - US178 (3 weeks)
US
First published: 1987
Uptown - - - - US155 (9 weeks)
US
First published: 1987
1989 Yellow moon - - - UK-
silver
silver
UK 		US66
gold
gold

(24 weeks)US
First published: 1989
1990 Brother's Keeper DE15 (16 weeks)
DE 		AT22 (5 weeks)
AT 		CH5 (15 weeks)
CH 		UK35 (3 weeks)
UK 		US60 (15 weeks)
US
First published: 1990
1992 Family groove DE46 (10 weeks)
DE 		- CH11 (12 weeks)
CH 		- US103 (9 weeks)
US
First publication: 1992
1994 Live on Planet Earth - - CH35 (3 weeks)
CH 		- US126 (5 weeks)
US
First published: 1994

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

more publishments

  • 1978: The Neville Brothers
  • 1984: Neville-ization
  • 1987: Nevillization 2
  • 1991: Treacherous Too! - A History of the Neville Brothers
  • 1995: Mitakuye Oyasin Oyasin / All My Relations
  • 1997: The Very Best of
  • 1998: Live at Tipitina's
  • 1999: Valence Street
  • 1999: Uptown Rulin '- The Best of
  • 2004: Walkin 'in the Shadow of Life
  • 2004: 20th Century Masters: The Best of
  • 2005: gold
  • 2010: Authorized Bootleg

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1989 With God on Our Side
Yellow Moon 		- - - UK47 (7 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: November 1989
1990 Bird on a Wire
Brother’s Keeper 		DE35 (16 weeks)
DE 		- - UK72 (3 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: June 1990

More singles

  • 1989: Sister Rosa
  • 1989: Yellow Moon
  • 1990: Fearless
  • 1991: Drift Away
  • 1992: Fly Like an Eagle
  • 1992: One More Day

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.schallplattenkritik.de/bestenlisten/650-bestenliste-4-2013
  2. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: US UK

Web links