The velvet tenor that crossed every genre line in New Orleans

Aaron Neville has one of the most recognisable voices in American music: a smooth, vibrato-heavy tenor that has moved through R&B, soul, gospel, jazz, country and pop without losing its identity. Born in 1941, he was a founding member of the Neville Brothers alongside his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril, but his solo story begins earlier and runs much longer.

His first single to get airplay beyond New Orleans was “Over You”, released in 1960. The real breakthrough was “Tell It Like It Is”, which topped Billboard's R&B chart for five weeks and reached number two on the Hot 100, held back only by the Monkees' “I'm a Believer”. It sold more than a million copies and later entered the Grammy Hall of Fame. Then the solo albums went quiet until 1986, when he returned with the independent release Orchid in the Storm.

The second act arrived in 1989 through a partnership with Linda Ronstadt on the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind. Their duets “Don't Know Much” and “All My Life” both won Grammy Awards and topped the Adult Contemporary chart. Ronstadt then produced his 1991 album Warm Your Heart, which included “Everybody Plays the Fool”, a Hot 100 top-ten hit and a cover of a Main Ingredient song. In 1993 he went country with The Grand Tour, covering the George Jones hit of the title, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.

The honours kept coming. He has four Grammy Awards, the latest in 2023 for “Stompin' Ground”, made with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and that same year Rolling Stone named him among its 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. He has also sung the national anthem at the Super Bowl twice. A career that began on the streets of New Orleans in 1960 has outlasted most of the trends it passed through, carried by a voice that sounds as gentle as it did in the sixties.