Aaron Neville, Smooth jazz Artist

The music of this week’s Featured Artist is eclectic with some Cajun and Creole influence.  He has had four Platinum-certified albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that went to #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.  His debut single, from 1966, was #1 on the Soul chart for five weeks.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana

Genre: Jazz, Pop, R&B, Soul, Adult Contemporary, Gospel, Country

The first of his singles that got airplay outside of New Orleans was “Over You”, recorded in 1960. Neville’s first major hit single was “Tell It Like It Is”, released on a small New Orleans label, Par-Lo co-owned by local musician/arranger George Davis, a friend from school, and band-leader Lee Diamond. The song topped Billboard’s R&B chart for five weeks in 1967 and also reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

In 1989, Neville teamed up with Linda Ronstadt on the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind. Among the duets recorded for the disc were the #1 Grammy-winning hits “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life”. “Don’t Know Much” reached #2 on the Hot 100, and was certified Gold for selling a million copies, while the album was certified Triple Platinum for US sales of more than 3 million.

His other hits have included “Everybody Plays the Fool”, his 1991 cover of the 1972 Main Ingredient song, that reached #8 on the Hot 100; “Don’t Take Away My Heaven”, “Hercules” and “Can’t Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song).” Neville’s biggest solo successes have been on the Adult Contemporary chart, where “Don’t Know Much,” “All My Life,” and “Everybody Plays the Fool” all reached Number One.

Biographical information courtesy of Wikipedia; for more reading see link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Neville