{"id":9017,"date":"2013-02-08T01:59:24","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T08:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=9017"},"modified":"2013-02-08T01:59:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T08:59:24","slug":"aaron-neville-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/02\/aaron-neville-2\/","title":{"rendered":"AARON NEVILLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"AARON NEVILLE\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n

An American treasure revisits the music that honed his otherworldly vocals \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Aaron Neville has sung R&B,\u00a0gospel and country, everywhere from Bourbon Street to Sesame Street<\/em>, but now he\u2019s returning to the street-corner sounds he\u2019s loved since boyhood with his doo-wop record, My True Story<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For the new album, Neville\u2019s first on Blue Note Records, he called label president Don Was, who in turn reached out to longtime doo-wop fan Keith Richards to\u00a0co-produce the project. \u201cKeith and I have been friends for a while,\u201d says the New Orleans native. \u201cWe grew up listening to the same stuff, and when we get together and talk music, it sounds like we grew up\u00a0on the same block.\u201d<\/p>\n

Backed by an all-star band that includes Richards, Greg Leisz and Benmont Tench, Neville\u2019s distinctive tenor covers songs made famous by acts like the Jive Five, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Clovers, as well as a slowed-down version of the Ronettes\u2019 1963 Phil Spector-produced hit, \u201cBe My Baby.\u201d \u201cPeople say, \u2018That isn\u2019t a doo-wop song,\u2019 but doo-wop was an era, and I picked songs from that era,\u201d Neville explains. \u201cThey didn\u2019t even call it \u2018doo-wop\u2019 until later on. Back in those days, it was just R&B.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 71, Neville\u2014who has collaborated with everyone from his famous brothers to Linda Ronstadt to Allen Toussaint\u2014has no plans to slow down. \u201cEven now, sometimes a song will pop into my head at 3 in the morning and I\u2019ll have to sing it maybe four or five times before I can go back to sleep,\u201d he says. \u201cThe music haunts me.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was the genesis of the album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been friends with Don Was for a long time, and when he got wind that I wanted to do a doo-wop album, he wanted to be involved because he thought it was a great idea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What was your inspiration?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was something I have wanted to do for a long time. I\u2019ve been inspired all my life by doo-wop. That was my first love in music, besides spiritual songs. My oldest brother, Arthur, used to bring home doo-wop records when we were young, and I was fascinated by them. I was into Nat King Cole, Clyde McPhatter, the Dominoes, the Teenagers, the Drifters, the Orioles\u2014all those old groups. As a kid, I learned how to sing all the parts of a doo-wop group: bass, harmonies, lead and high notes. When I was in grammar school, the teachers must have thought I had ADHD\u2014I wouldn\u2019t pay attention to the lesson because I had songs in my head. In junior high I was in a doo-wop group, and we would sing in the boys\u2019 bathroom where the acoustics were great. A teacher would have to come into the bathroom and say, \u201cYou boys better get to class,\u201d and I\u2019d say, \u201cWell, I\u2019m in class.\u201d<\/p>\n

I like to say that I attended the University of Doo-wopology, and you can hear that doo-wop vocal flair on everything in every style I\u2019ve recorded over the years. I did it on\u00a0\u201cMona Lisa,\u201d \u201cThe Grand Tour,\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Know Much\u201d with Linda Ronstadt. I did a doo-wop EP in the late \u201980s called\u00a0Orchid in the Storm<\/em>, and Arthur sang with me. I\u2019ve also done a split session with a doo-wop group called the Del-Royals. So making a full-length doo-wop album has been a long time coming for me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Were you involved in the production?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was more hands-on in the studio than I had been in a while. Don and Keith respected me enough to hear what I had to say about the songs and how I wanted things to sound or feel. It was a joint effort that everyone put in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How was the band put together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don picked the band, and Keith came up with a couple of the background singers. We had the Jive Five\u2019s Eugene Pitt, who co-wrote \u201cMy True Story,\u201d Bobby Jay from the Teenagers, Dickie Harmon of the Del-Vikings, and Joel Katz. My bass player, David Johnson, and my drummer, Earl Smith Jr., sing backup vocals on some tracks to fatten them up a bit. Doo-wop started with guys on the street corner singing a cappella. When they went into the studio they recorded with bands, but they were always focused on the group harmonies and high notes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How were the arrangements shaped?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would tell Keith and Don the song I wanted to do, and they\u2019d get together with the band. They\u2019d listen to the original recording, look at chord charts, and then we\u2019d all just go in and record the songs live. There was no problem at all doing it that way. I\u2019d give Keith, Don and the musicians my ideas of how I wanted certain things, like the grooves on \u201cTing a Ling\u201d or \u201cWork With Me Annie,\u201d and the band would fall right in behind me. We were like teenagers again in the studio\u2014we had a lot of fun together. We wrapped the record in five days. I went into the studio with plans to record 12 songs and ended up doing\u00a023 songs. So I\u2019m sure there\u2019s going to be My True Story<\/em> Part Two and maybe\u00a0Part Three in the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Which songs didn\u2019t make the final cut?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A version of \u201cFor Your Precious Love,\u201d which I had recorded earlier in my career, \u201cHoney Love\u201d by Clyde McPhatter, and even James Brown\u2019s \u201cTry Me\u201d\u2014which he recorded with the Famous Flames in the \u201950s. I also did \u201cA Thousand Miles Away\u201d by the Delfonics. There\u2019s some really<\/em> good stuff in the can that I hope people get to hear at some point.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t even explain how easy it was to make the record\u2014there was no labor, just love. Keith and I were grown men acting like teens in the studio. Keith would talk to the band and say, \u201cAaron\u2019s going to do this song,\u201d and then he\u2019d have to come back later and say, \u201cOh, Aaron changed his mind, he\u2019s got a new one that he wants to do instead.\u201d Like a kid in the candy store: \u201cI want this. No, I want that. And give me one of those, too.\u201d I wanted everything.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you keep your voice sounding so pure after 50 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had some problems in the past\u2014nodules here and there and bruised vocal cords\u2014but I rest and I pray a lot. It\u2019s all up to God. I tell young singers, \u201cDon\u2019t ever think that your voice, your talent, is all you. God can give it and He can take it, so respect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anything you still want to achieve?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to work with Linda Ronstadt again. I think she\u2019s one of the greatest singers ever. When we sang together on\u00a0Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind<\/em>, she said it was like our voices were married. I\u2019d also like to work with\u00a0Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole\u00a0and Smokey Robinson.<\/p>\n

If you notice all the different styles\u00a0of music I\u2019ve sung over the course of my career, I have never done a blues \u00a0album\u2014and I\u2019d like to do one. I\u2019d like to do some more country like \u201cThe Grand Tour\u201d\u00a0and \u201cI Fall to Pieces,\u201d which I sang with\u00a0Trisha Yearwood. I also want to do some tribute records to Nat King Cole,\u00a0Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye. I don\u2019t\u00a0know where I\u2019ll go from here, but I\u2019m not\u00a0slowing down. I just want to sing until God tells me, \u201cOK Aaron, you\u2019ve had your\u00a0run. Break it up, son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Juli Thanki<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AARON NEVILLE\u00a0 An American treasure revisits the music that honed his otherworldly vocals \u00a0 Aaron Neville has sung R&B,\u00a0gospel and country, everywhere from Bourbon Street to Sesame Street, but now he\u2019s returning to the street-corner sounds he\u2019s loved since boyhood with his doo-wop record, My True Story. For the new album, Neville\u2019s first on Blue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[2329,31,6066,6063,6070,25,6072,6068,6071,5885,4688,6069,6065,6073,6067,6064,6074,5372],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9019,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9017\/revisions\/9019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}