Legendary R & B Soul Singer Aaron Neville

Aaron Neville:

00:00:00.31 – 00:00:20.17

 Taking a walk You know I’m not you know 20 years old again I’m 82 and I don’t want to go out there trying to sound like I did then And you know and people say oh you don’t sound like you use I have records that I made that are great You know if you want to hear I never you know check out the records I still call them records

Buzz Knight:

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I’m Buzz Knight the host of the Taking a Walk podcast Music History on foot

Buzz Knight:

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 We’ve been so fortunate on many episodes of taking a walk to talk with some of our generation’s most iconic voices from Hall of Famers like Bill Medley from the Righteous Brothers to new rising stars like jelly roll

Buzz Knight:

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 We have run the gamut and today we have a grammy winner multi grammy winner one of the greatest singers of all time He has a new book out called Tell It Like it is Aaron Neville is next on taking a walk

Buzz Knight:

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 Aaron it’s an honor to speak to you

Aaron Neville:

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 Oh thank you Same here

Buzz Knight:

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 Congratulations on the book Tell it like it is Tell me did you enjoy the writing process for your book

Aaron Neville:

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 Oh yeah It was great with uh be a man who helped me do it I think you say it was a I wanted to be in your voice and that’s what we done

Aaron Neville:

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 And I’ll tell you it was a roller coaster of emotions you know just going with the stuff that I had lived

Buzz Knight:

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 Did you find it uh therapeutic

Aaron Neville:

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 Oh yeah definitely

Aaron Neville:

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 You know and I and I you know I prayed the whole while I was doing it You ask for forgiveness for whatever I’ve done wrong at different times you know

Buzz Knight:

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 tell me about religion in your life Aaron

Aaron Neville:

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 well I went to Catholic school in Saint Monica in New Orleans It was close to the project and uh the nuns you know like one of my favorite nuns the sister Damien she taught the fourth grade and you know she followed out the

Aaron Neville:

00:02:02.68 – 00:02:09.479

 said she passed and uh I learned a lot from them and from my parents too you know But

Aaron Neville:

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 uh and they said that listening to the choir singing to Ave Maria I never knew the words I just knew the refrain would always do something to my heart I can’t explain it You know it was like medicine you know

Aaron Neville:

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 and that’s what I’ve called my music after that medicine for other people

Aaron Neville:

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 But uh I Maria was special until I met Linda Ronstadt And the first thing we got the chance to sing together in the studio was the Ave Maria We did it in harmony

Aaron Neville:

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 with uh my first solo album on A and M Warm Your Heart He suggested that I do I

Aaron Neville:

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 and uh we recorded it in San Francisco at Grace Cathedral

Aaron Neville:

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 with the old boys Quiet

Aaron Neville:

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 and I mean it came out magnificent

Buzz Knight:

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 I have chills just thinking about that

Aaron Neville:

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 Oh yeah it was with me too Aaron

Buzz Knight:

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 the book is so transparent in terms of uh where your life led you down some uh some paths of uh destruction Um When you when you sort of think about those lessons like lessons of rehab as an example what would you want to pass along to others Uh listening

Aaron Neville:

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 Well uh it’s a it’s a game you play and especially with the drugs with the hair on it’s like uh your face do it and make you think it likes you but it don’t like you know it’s your worst enemy and they drag you through the hell and gasoline draws and that’s what it done me So you know um I’m glad I got to the other side I’m glad I wasn’t one of the 27 club

Aaron Neville:

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 like Jimi Hendrix and a few others You know they all died at 27 years old but here I am still here

Buzz Knight:

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 What did the doctor Drew Pinsky teach you Uh when you uh consulted

Aaron Neville:

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 him he told you that the drugs that they were doing to you inside to you the organs and all you know and destroying you And uh then he said something he said 12 minute and the 1000 is not enough I said wow that made so much sense you know But

Aaron Neville:

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 I guess uh I had to you know reach my waterloo whatever you want to call it You know before I

Aaron Neville:

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 I tell y’all it it’s all in the book I finally flew the dragon you know

Buzz Knight:

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 now you have kind of quietly retired

Aaron Neville:

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 Um you know I’ve done it since I was a teenager And the thing about me and Linda I said talk about it like she was saying when she first found out she had Parkinson’s and you know she wasn’t hitting the notes like she used to she said I don’t want to cheat the people and that’s what I feel you know I’m not you know 20 years old again I’m 82 and uh I don’t want to go out there trying to sound like I did then and you know and people say oh you don’t sound like you used to I have records that I made that are great

Aaron Neville:

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 You know if you want to hear and never you know check out the records I still call them records You know

Buzz Knight:

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 is it possible anyone would ever coax you into a recording session

Aaron Neville:

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 No

Aaron Neville:

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 I mean I’ve I got five Grammys I since I retired I got a Grammy from one of the songs I did on the album uh Apache

Aaron Neville:

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 of Stopping Grounds

Aaron Neville:

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 So uh who would have thought I was getting a fifth grammy So I’m satisfied you know

Buzz Knight:

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 back to Linda Ronstadt Do you recall the first time you met her

Aaron Neville:

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 And she uh it was 1984 in New Orleans at the World Fair She was there doing uh Nelson Riddle at the amphitheater And the brothers were doing a gig at Pete Fountains Club on the ground

Aaron Neville:

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 And after her show somebody told her she we were playing So she came and they told me she was an audience So I sang a song called Ian and I dedicated it to her and I

Aaron Neville:

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 and I called up on stage where she later told the press that she you would never do anything impro like that But she wasn’t going to say no to Aaron that So that was how we met And I asked for autographs And uh she said to Aaron Love I’ll sang with you any time any place anywhere in any key So that was 84 85 all Tua and myself had formed a organization called New Orleans Artist

Aaron Neville:

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 against home and homeless

Aaron Neville:

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 And we were doing benefits for it in New Orleans You know all of New Orleans Artists would be would participate in it You know the brothers the Dixie clubs

Aaron Neville:

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 whoever and they invited me to come She said oh yeah I definitely do it So we were all studio

Aaron Neville:

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 and the first thing we wanted to sing together by both dance Catholic was Ave Maria and we sang it in home

Aaron Neville:

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 and her manager Peter as said oh y’all should do a record together I said man I I’m geek you know I’d love to sing with Linda We didn’t record till like 88 or something like that But

Aaron Neville:

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 the record came out in 89 and in the studio

Aaron Neville:

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 I told her meet you at the Grammys I was joking but not joking because it was that great of a song you know

Buzz Knight:

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 you are Yeah one of the you know rare group of people who have sang with Linda Ronstadt Uh What kind of experience

Aaron Neville:

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 is that

Aaron Neville:

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 It’s a heavenly experience I don’t that’s all I can say You know she said I have the voice of an angel I think she has the voice of an angel also So there was two angels mixing together I mean we got a bunch of stuff We did not just the four songs on my album She recorded stuff with my two of my albums She did a song by uh called the Song of and they did a version of that She sang another song called Please Remember me

Aaron Neville:

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 She’s saying close your eyes do by uh by the five key and she’s singing on Ave Maria and

Aaron Neville:

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 and we still talk every once in a while, a couple of times a week keep in contact

Buzz Knight:

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 Erin We have a podcast we produce besides this uh taking a walk podcast that’s called Music Save Me About the power and healing power of music And for someone who has gotten mixed up into a lot of trials and tribulations in your life that you depict in the book you know stealing cars ended up in jail addiction Can you say Can you say music saved you

Aaron Neville:

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 Yeah I always say music was medicine to me And I have a couple of incidents like the lady told me about a little six year old boy he was autistic and they had to keep him in a rubber room They couldn’t do anything with him He slop around at the seal and the only thing that would calm him down is to put a headset on his head with my voice And I said well the only thing I can think of is a guard and me touch the guard in him you know so stuff like that to give me chills

Aaron Neville:

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 But I know my voice You know when I sang um uh San Augustin said he who sings prayers twice.

Aaron Neville:

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 And I definitely believe him because I was always praying when I sang.

Buzz Knight:

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 Are you singing around the house Uh As you’re doing chores in the midst of the day?

Aaron Neville:

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 oh, I’d do it I’d be outside and you know uh sit by the piano and do something you know but it’s just for me and Sarah

Buzz Knight:

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 who are some of the musicians that you admire today?

Aaron Neville:

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 I really like uh Bruno Mars Uh I like some of the rap stuff when they’re talking positive stuff you know.

Aaron Neville:

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 Adele, I like Adele I like uh Beyonce

Aaron Neville:

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 Adam Levine and they both did a singing called singing Era Don’t know much thing.

Aaron Neville:

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 Beyonce and Adam Levine So that was you know it’s like uh giving you praise like you know.

Buzz Knight:

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 tell me about the Aaron Neville Elixir

Aaron Neville:

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 Well, that’s something my wife said She started growing the Turmeric and the ginger and the cayenne and the uh the lemons and

Aaron Neville:

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 and it’s a mixture of uh turmeric ginger cayenne lemon apple cider vinegar and honey.

Aaron Neville:

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 And uh I don’t know I’ve been taking this for years man don’t want to stop taking it.

Aaron Neville:

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 and anybody that that takes it they like it because they help them in different things You know.

Buzz Knight:

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 you still pretty aggressively work out every day don’t.

Aaron Neville:

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 you

Aaron Neville:

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 Well not every day but me and Sarah we work out at least four times a week.

Aaron Neville:

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 and sometimes we do two in a row We do the one with just the weights and then one that’s called a hit you know get you vigorous and you know vigorous workouts And I feel good afterwards.

Buzz Knight:

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 for someone who lived on the road so much in your career

Buzz Knight:

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 Explain to somebody who a musician on the road has never been how difficult and trying and taxing it is

Aaron Neville:

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 Well, I’m look I’m so glad I’m not out there right now with all the stuff happening with this I call it airport agony You know you cancel flights and at the drop of a hat and you just stop

Aaron Neville:

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 and if your luggage get lost we don’t know where it is and hey you know good luck So I airport agony I do not miss it at all Uh lately I mean about people being in the airport for like a week trying to get out of that town you know so it gets crazy I don’t miss the hotels you know I miss the crowd you know and that part but the rest of it they can keep it

Aaron Neville:

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 I used to say uh I’ll be grabbing I can get.

Aaron Neville:

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 they start to get from my house to the gig and I have to have to worry about the airport.

Aaron Neville:

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 They never worked that out.

Buzz Knight:

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 you know as you’re contemplating your faith every day Do you do you find a way that maybe allows you to communicate with some of your either lost friends who have passed on or musicians who have passed on Do you get to communicate with

Aaron Neville:

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 them

Aaron Neville:

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 Well, no I communicating but they I think about them a lot you know like my brothers you know doctor John Allen Toussaint and my first wife Joel and all her family and you know Yeah You know I think they they’re my reverie and my

Aaron Neville:

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 in my remembrance you know and that’s why I was able to just write the book like it you know like I lived it

Buzz Knight:

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 So lastly what would you tell a musician who is trying to find their voice who is starting out What would you give them advice wise in a very tough business.

Aaron Neville:

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 be a plumber.

Aaron Neville:

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 and get it Yeah.

Aaron Neville:

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 that’s a that’s a show now

Aaron Neville:

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 Music business is so sick on that You know

Buzz Knight:

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 I love you to death I love you to death I’m so grateful for all the music that you’ve given us And congratulations on the book Tell it like it is uh Aaron Neville You are a treasure

Aaron Neville:

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 Thank you Thank

Buzz Knight:

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 you sir

Buzz Knight:

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 What a joy talking with Aaron Neville So grateful to have him on check out his book Tell it like it is If you like this podcast please share it with a friend Leave us a review Thanks to Bob Malia for his production excellence and thanks for listening to taking a walk

Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.

After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.