* En anglais uniquement
As a founding member of
the Meters and
Neville Brothers, New Orleans vocalist and keyboardist
Art Neville helped immeasurably to shape the contemporary New Orleans funk sound.
Neville's first band, the Hawketts, tasted local success in 1954 with the carnival perennial "Mardi Gras Mambo" on Chess. He cut some nice solo singles for Specialty during the late '50s, notably "Cha Dooky-Doo," as well as contributing two choruses of storming piano to
Jerry Byrne's 1958 classic "Lights Out." "All These Things," a gentle ballad, also did well locally in 1962 on the Instant logo. He assembled
the Meters in the mid-'60s, and the instrumental quartet proved the Crescent City's answer to
the MG's until their 1977 breakup. That's when
Art and his siblings formed
the Neville Brothers, who went on to reign as the leading musical export from New Orleans. Health problems led to
Art Neville retiring from performing in 2018, and on July 22, 2019, he died at the age of 81. ~ Bill Dahl