Top 60 Aaron Neville Quotes

Beyonce is cool, and she can really sing.

I owe it all to Jesus.

I started listening to gospel when I was a little boy and my grandmother used to rock me on her lap.

I never left doo wop.

I really like listening to music in my car.

If you had told me I’d be making 62 tomorrow, I’d say you were lying.

I eat a lot of fish to stay healthy.

When I’m singing, it’s a mixture of my innocence in the projects, my mom and dad. It’s all the good and the bad, the laughs and the frowns that I went through and seen other people go through. Then you be trying to write it. Whatever’s coming out, you try and make it all cool.

Being at the Apollo, I was always starstruck.

My brothers and I would sit out on the park bench and harmonize.

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.

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.

My dad and my mom were big Nat King Cole fans, so they had everything he did.

Singing is a prayer to me.

In New Orleans, music is part of the culture. You’re raised with it, from the cradle to the grave, and all in-between.

I always loved Sam Cooke, because he seemed very versatile. He sang gospel, soul, blues, pop music.

I don’t want to be on the road all my life.

I’ll be singing with The Blind Boys of Alabama, which is a great joy to me. I’ve done some work with them before, and they truly are amazing.

But I knew if I ran I’d never be able to sing, so I had to take my punishment.

When I’m singing, I connect the dots with notes.

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.

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.

I didn’t just get to 75 years by tiptoeing. I had to work hard sometimes.

Singing is my entire life. I nearly lost that. I am so blessed to be able to do this. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.

Every morning I wake up and thank God.

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.

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!

When you were a kid, a day was a long time and a year was a long time.

I balance with prayer and music. I sing every day.

When I record something, I’ll take a drive and just listen.

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.

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.

I buried Joel on our 48th anniversary. I had been with her since I was 16.

I’ve done all different kinds of genres – doo-wop, pop, funk, gospel, country, jazz, you name it.

Doo-wop is the true music to me, man. Doo-wop was what nurtured me and grew me into who I am, and I guess even when I was in school, the teacher probably thought I had ADD or something every day, because I’d be beating on the desks, singing like the Flamingos or the Spaniels or Clyde McPhatter or somebody.

I dig Steve Harvey: he’s the suit man. I be checking him out.

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.

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.

Growing up my mother played Sarah Vaughan and Nat Cole in the house regularly.

Don Was is a friend of mine; we’ve done projects together over the years.

My mother turned me onto St. Jude back in the days when I was wild and crazy. She took me to the shrine on Rampart Street.

I never really got paid for ‘Tell It Like Is,’ but I look back at it and say God knew what he was doing; he probably figured that if I had got money back in them days, I wouldn’t be here now. That’s okay. I’m here. And I’m still singing the song.

It’s a 360-degree sound experience. Like you’re in the middle of the band. A lot of people have the technology to play the format, so why not put it out there. It sounds great.

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.

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.

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.

You try to do what you can to bring harmony wherever you go.

I’ve been into every doo-wop there is. I think I went to the university of doo-wop-ology.

I was raised Catholic, but my father‘s people were Methodist, so we went to both churches.

The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience.

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.

I even done a doo-wop version of the Mickey Mouse march.

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.

I’m waiting for them to come up with a ‘Star Trek‘ thing so they can beam me from my house to the gigs and back.

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.

Be honest, be nice, be a flower not a weed.

God is waiting for us, to forgive us all, and what is broken, he’ll fix.

I write poetry on my iPhone. I’ve got about 100 poems on there.

Ain’t no place like New Orleans. It’s one of kind.