On Saturday, May 2nd, an extraordinary collection of music stars came together for New Orleans’ concert event of the year, “Nevilles Forever: A Celebration Of The Neville Brothers And Their Music“, a farewell bid to a national music treasure. The farewell concert took place at the historic Saenger Theatre, New Orleans. Grammy Award-winner Don Was served as the music director and led an all-star band backing the performers at this incredible concert event taping.
“I am honored to produce such an important show celebrating the Neville Brothers. Their music has meant everything to me and fans around the world,” says Wortman. “This will be one of those nights where every fan wishes they were in the building.” “The Neville Brothers are the royal family of New Orleans funk,” says Was. “Individually each brother is a musical powerhouse unto himself, but when they play together they create musical magic. The fact that they’ve come home to New Orleans for this show makes it all the more special.”
Throughout their long careers as both solo performers and as members of the group that bore their family name, the Neville Brothers proudly carried the torch of their native New Orleans’ rich R&B legacy. Although the four siblings — Arthur, Charles, Aaron, and Cyril — did not officially unite under the Neville Brothers aegis until 1977, all had crossed musical paths in the past, while also enjoying success with other unrelated projects: Eldest brother Art was the first to tackle a recording career, when in 1954 his high school band the Hawketts cut “Mardi Gras Mambo,” a song that later became the annual carnival’s unofficial anthem. Both Aaron and Charles later joined the Hawketts as well, and when Art joined the Navy in 1958, he handed Aaron the group’s vocal reins. In 1968, Allen Toussaint put together a house band for various recordings that eventually became the Meters, which featured Art without Aaron and Charles. In 1975, the Meters backed the Wild Tchoupitoulas and enlisted Aaron and Charles for the recording sessions. In 1977, they officially banded together as the Neville Brothers and they went on to create music history with iconic albums and classics such as: “Yellow Moon,” “Sister Rosa,” “Mardi Gras Mambo,” “Fiyo on the Bayou,” “Live on Planet Earth,” “Brothers Keeper,” “Voodoo,” “Bird on a Wire,” “With God On Our Side,” “Hey Pocky Way,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Drift Away,” “Liza Jane” and “Big Chief,” among many others.
