The American R&B/soul/funk group The Neville Brothers were founded in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1976.
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Are any of the Neville Brothers still alive?
The Neville family’s four brothers, Art (1937-2019), Charles (1938-2018), Aaron (1941), and Cyril (1948), joined forces in 1976 to participate in a recording session for the Wild Tchoupitoulas, an Indian Mardi Gras band led by the Nevilles’ uncle, George Landry (“Big Chief Jolly”).
Capitol Records issued The Neville Brothers, their self-titled debut album, in 1978.
Except for Charles, a citizen of Massachusetts, the other brothers all resided in New Orleans until Cyril and Aaron left the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At the invitation of his late buddy, the legendary owner of blues clubs Clifford Antone, Aaron temporarily relocated to Austin. They stopped performing in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck, but they did so during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2008, receiving the closing slot that had been set aside for them for years. [7][8]
Ivan Neville (keyboards) and Ian Neville (electric guitar), both members of the band Dumpstaphunk, have occasionally performed with the Neville Brothers.
The band officially split up in 2012, but they came back together in 2015 for a farewell concert in New Orleans.
The 2005 documentary film Make It Funky! has performance footage of The Neville Brothers and chronicles the evolution of New Orleans music and its impact on rhythm and blues, rock & roll, funk, and jazz. They appear in the movie and sing “Fire on the Bayou” with Ivan and Ian Neville as special guests.
The 2008 Universal fire destroyed the work of hundreds of artists, including The Neville Brothers.
At the age of 79, Charles Neville passed away from pancreatic cancer on April 26, 2018.
On July 22, 2019, Art Neville, 81, passed away. No cause of death has been disclosed as of yet.
