Grammy-winning crooner Aaron Neville will perform an evening of classic doo-wop hits Saturday, March 7, presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
“An Intimate Evening with the Aaron Neville Duo” is set for 8 p.m. in the ASC’s Jemison Concert Hall, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $43.50, $52.50 and $61.50. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.
Backed by jazz piano for this show, New Orleans native Neville returns to the ASC stage for a performance of hit covers from his album “My True Story,” co-produced by Blue Note President Don Was and the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards. The album includes classic tunes by such vocal-group legends as Little Anthony and the Imperials (“Tears on My Pillow”), Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (“Work with Me, Annie”), and the Drifters (“Money Honey,” “Under the Boardwalk,” “This Magic Moment”). To Neville, though, these songs weren’t just the soundtrack to his youth; they became the underpinning for the music he has created across five decades.
“These songs helped to mold me into who I am,” Neville said on his website bio. “They’re all dear to my heart, and they rode with me, in my bones, through all these years.”
| “These songs helped to mold me into who I am. They’re all dear to my heart, and they rode with me, in my bones, through all these years.” |
For his show, Neville will revisit the music he grew up with and add a few new spins along the way, performed in his utterly inimitable vocal style. He will also perform his own most popular tunes.
“My True Story” represents a culmination of Neville’s incredible career, which has seen him move seamlessly between solo work and his role in one of the most esteemed families of New Orleans music, the Neville Brothers. His first hit single was the landmark “Tell It Like It Is,” which held the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts for five weeks in 1967. He went on to win Grammy Awards for his triple-platinum 1989 collaboration with Linda Ronstadt, “Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind,” and reached the country charts with the title track of 1993’s “The Grand Tour.” A member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, Neville’s other recent projects include the gospel album “I Know I’ve Been Changed” in 2010.
“Tell It Like It Is” is one of 27 recordings being added to the Grammy Hall of Fame collection for 2015, which acknowledges singles and albums of all genres at least 25 years old that have a historical significance.