Aaron Neville (born January 24, 1941) – Hercules (1973)

This gritty funk classic by the great New Orleans singer was written and co-produced by Allen Toussaint, and released on Mercury but did not chart.

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Aaron Neville is an R&B singer from New Orleans who has been recording since the early 1960s. In the mid-70s he and his three brothers formed the Grammy-winning group the Neville Brothers.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Aaron Joseph Neville was the third of four brothers who began playing music together when they were kids. By the early sixties, Aaron and his youngest brother Cyril had joined their oldest brother Art in his band the Neville Sounds, later to become known as the Meters. But they both soon left to form their own groups.

Aaron released a series of recordings from 1960-62 without much chart success. His first singles were issued by the New Orleans-based label Minit Records, which unexpectedly had a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with Ernie K-Doe’s 1961 novelty song “Mother-In-Law.” The genius producer and songwriter Allen Toussaint was the label’s in-house producer during this period, and he began collaborating with Neville, a working relationship that would last for years.

In 1960, Neville’s second single on Minit was “Show Me The Way” b/w the upbeat R&B jam “Out of My Life.” The B-side was credited to “Naomi Neville,” a pseudonym for Toussaint. Naomi Neville was his mother's maiden name, no relation to Aaron Neville or the Neville family. Toussaint also wrote the inspirational song “Let's Live” (1961) for Neville, with “I Found Another Love” on the flip. Neither of these two singles charted.

His big break came in 1966 when he recorded his debut album Tell It Like It Is for the small New Orleans label Par-Lo Records, co-owned by arranger George Davis, a school friend of Neville’s. Its title track was released as a single that November b/w with the superb jam “Why Worry” and began climbing the national charts. By early 1967, it hit #1 R&B and crossed over to peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind only “I’m A Believer” by the Monkees. It went gold, selling over a million copies.

Neville released several follow up singles over the next few years, including the beautiful, heartfelt song “Where Is My Baby” (1968) b/w “You Can Give, But You Can’t Take,” and the stellar heartbreak tale “Speak To Me” (1969) b/w “You Don’t Love Me Anymore.”

All tracks on both these two Bell Records singles were written and arranged by Toussaint, who co-produced them with Marshall E. Sehorn.

In 1972, Neville released the first of two singles on Mercury Records. “Baby I'm A Want You” was a stirring cover of Bread’s 1971 hit song written by their lead singer David Gates. It was co-produced by Toussaint and Sehorn, with horns arranged by the legendary New Orleans producer/arranger Wardell Quezergue.

Neville’s gritty, epic, laid back funk jam “Hercules” came out the following year in 1973, with the sad tale of mourning “Going Home” on the flip. Both sides were written and arranged by Toussaint, and co-produced by Toussaint and Sehorn. Despite the fact that “Hercules” was an instant funk classic, it somehow failed to chart. Original copies today sell for $300 on average on Discogs.

Nearly fifty years later, Neville was filmed performing “Hercules” with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in a scene cut from the award-winning 2023 documentary Take Me To The River New Orleans.

Happy 83rd Birthday to the great Aaron Neville.

Further info:

Official Site of Aaron Neville, AaronNeville.com.

“Singer Aaron Neville's Rough Road to Salvation,” Mother Jones, October 23, 2016.

“Aaron Neville Talks Back,” Offbeat Magazine, August 29, 2023.

“Aaron Neville tells it like it is in new autobiography,” NOLA.com, November 21, 2023.

#soul #funk #NewOrleans #AllenToussaint #AaronNeville