Be honest, be nice, be a flower not a weed.
Aaron Neville
Every morning I wake up and thank God.
It's up to God to do the judging. You haven't walked in my boots, so how are you going to judge me?
Every day, some act of kindness comes my way, even if it's just someone opening the door. It happens every day if you keep an eye out for it. Keeping an eye out, that's the key.
If we were poor, we didn't know it 'cause I guess you don't miss what you never had. So, you know, we made do with whatever. We used to make our own toys, and we used to play with spinning tops and marbles. A pocket full of marbles, and you were rich - you didn't worry about no money.
I think St. Jude helped me achieve some miracles in my life - that's why I wear the medallion in my left ear and never take it out.
My drummer, bass player, and guitar player sing backgrounds. They play and sing. I can sing all the harmonies, but I can't do it alone.
The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience.
I was raised Catholic, but my father's people were Methodist, so we went to both churches.
Working with the brothers can put pressure on my voice, so I choose to do my own solo thing so I can save my voice. I couldn't do both now. The Neville Brothers is a funk band; they play loud, and I have a strong voice.
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.
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.
I write poetry on my iPhone. I've got about 100 poems on there.
I feel it was just a few years ago I was running around in short pants.
I was very surprised when I heard that I had been chosen to receive the James Cardinal Gibbons Award.
It's one of the greatest festivals in the world. New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest is the best all-around... It's an honor to be closing it.
Man, I was scared. I didn't know what to think. All of a sudden, I got a record climbing the charts, and I'm out in the streets. You know, workin' on the docks. And the first week, it sold something like 40,000 in 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.
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.
The gospel music and doo-wop is what has informed me personally.
I always feel I'm blessed, you know. I thank God for letting me use his voice. That's how I see it.
You've just got to sing, do some kind of singing every day. Early mornings and cold weather can mess with that. I drink special teas with cayenne pepper, but I think you're psyching yourself out, really.
Until I went to rehab, I didn't understand what it did.
Beyonce is cool, and she can really sing.
New Orleans will always be in my heart. New Orleans raised me - it's in my blood.
When I was living in the projects, I had a mop stick for my horse. I wanted to be Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, so I would ride my mop through the projects.
I really like listening to music in my car.
My friends and I were wild and we liked to joy-ride.
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.
My brother Art was a doo-wopper. He had a group that sat out on a park bench in New Orleans and sang harmonies at night, and they'd go around and win all the talent shows and get all the girls, you know.
My brothers and I would sit out on the park bench and harmonize.
When I record something, I'll take a drive and just listen.
Ain't no place like New Orleans. It's one of kind.
Growing up my mother played Sarah Vaughan and Nat Cole in the house regularly.
My favorite prayer is Footprints in the Sand. You know that prayer? I know the times that he carried me, you know? I kind of wore him out.
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.
In New Orleans, music is part of the culture. You're raised with it, from the cradle to the grave, and all in-between.
The music of the Clovers and Spaniels and the rest was like candy to me. I couldn't get enough; my teachers probably thought I had attention deficit disorder.
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.
My dad and my mom were big Nat King Cole fans, so they had everything he did.
I know the fact that I was born means I have to die, so my only aim is to reach out and help someone along the way.
When I first went out on the road with Larry Williams, there was also, like, The Coasters, The Drifters, and The Flamingos.
I used to always sing my way into the movies and the basketball games or whatever. I'd sing for whoever's on the door, and they'd let me in. I used to think I was Nat King Cole back in the day, you know. So I'd sing something like, 'Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, men have named you,' and they'd let me in.
Don Was is a friend of mine; we've done projects together over the years.
Age and numbers are a concept made up by man.
I grew up singing Ray Charles and Jimmy Reed.
I am very honored and excited to have 'Devotion' released as the first DVD Audio disc... surround sound is amazing... The music comes alive and is so vibrant - it's unlike anything you've ever heard before!
I know that God is good, and he saved me from hell and damnation.
When I was growing in the Callope project, we had an oval parkway. Pavement ran around this whole thing. We'd skate or ride bicycles. There were benches and trees out there. It was paradise to us. They finished building it the same year I was born.
When I sang, I couldn't help making those little curves. People would say, 'Why don't you sing straight?' But I have always had to put something in.
