Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 1941), and Cyril (b. 1948) Neville grew up steeped in the musical culture of their Thirteenth Ward and Calliope housing project neighborhood, absorbing the R&B, gospel, and Mardi Gras Indian traditions that surrounded them. Each brother had already established himself as a musician before they came together — Art through the Hawkettes and later the Meters; Aaron with his 1966 R&B hit “Tell It Like It Is”; Charles as a journeyman saxophonist; Cyril as a percussionist and vocalist. It was the 1976 Wild Tchoupitoulas project, produced by Allen Toussaint, that first united all four brothers on record.
The Neville Brothers as a formal group debuted at Tipitina’s in 1977, and their self-titled Capitol debut followed in 1978. But it was the 1981 A&M release Fiyo on the Bayou — featuring Mardi Gras Indian standards, a Louis Armstrong cover, and arrangements by Wardell Quezergue — that established their identity as heirs to the entire sweep of New Orleans music history. Their live performances were legend: marathon shows driven by Aaron’s otherworldly falsetto and Art’s churning organ.
