Cyril Garrett Neville (born October 10, 1948) is an American percussionist and vocalist who first came to prominence as a member of his brother Art Neville's funky New Orleans-based band, The Meters. He joined Art in the

Neville Brothers The Neville Brothers were an American R&B/soul/funk group, formed in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana. History The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 1 ...

band upon the dissolution of the Meters.

Career

He has appeared on recordings by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

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, Edie Brickell,

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and The New Orleans Social Club among others. Neville is interviewed on screen and appears in performance footage with The Neville Brothers in the 2005 documentary film '' Make It Funky!'', which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. In the film, the band performs "Fire on the Bayou" with guests Ivan and Ian Neville. Neville was also featured in the 2006 documentary film '' New Orleans Music in Exile''. In 2005, Neville joined up with Tab Benoit for the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars to bring awareness to Louisiana's rapid loss of wetlands along the Gulf Coast. The band also features Waylon Thibodeaux, Johnny Sansone,

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, Monk Boudreaux, George Porter Jr., Johnny Vidacovich, and Dr. John. The band has become a main feature at the annual

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. After

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he moved to

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, but as of 2012 lives in Slidell, Louisiana. Soul Rebels Brass Band featured Neville as a special guest on their

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Ali ...

debut record, ''Unlock Your Mind'', released on January 31, 2012. The Soul Rebels' name was conceived by Neville at the New Orleans venue

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. He put aside his solo career to tour internationally with the band. In 2012, Cyril Neville joined forces with Devon Allman (son of

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), award-winning blues-rock guitarist Mike Zito, bassist Charlie Wooton, and Grammy-winning drummer Yonrico Scott to form Royal Southern Brotherhood, a blues-rock supergroup.

Citations

* "Cyril Neville may be the youngest of the Neville Brothers, the first family of New Orleans rock and R&B, but he has just made his best album". - ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' * "a refreshingly original approach to the music" (*** 1/2) - ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

Discography

* 1994: ''The Fire This Time'' (Endangered Species) with The Uptown Allstars * 1998: ''Soulo'' (Endangered Species) solo album * 2000: ''New Orleans Cookin (Endangered Species) solo album * 2003: ''For The Funk Of It'' (Kongo Square) with The Uptown Allstars * 2007: ''The Healing Dance'' (Jomar/Silk) with Tribe 13 * 2009: ''Brand New Blues'' (M.C.) solo album * 2012: ''Royal Southern Brotherhood'' ( Ruf) with Royal Southern Brotherhood * 2012: ''Live in Germany'' (Ruf) with Royal Southern Brotherhood * 2013: ''Magic Honey'' (Ruf) solo album * 2014: ''Heartsoulblood'' (Ruf) with Royal Southern Brotherhood * 2015: ''Don't Look Back'' (Ruf) with Royal Southern Brotherhood

Awards and honors

As a member of the Neville Brothers, Cyril won the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for the song "Healing Chant". In 1996, he and his brothers were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the song "Fire on the Mountain". They were also nominated for the 1999

Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers of quality traditional R&B vocal performances. ...

for the album ''Valence Street''. In 2014, Neville (as a solo) was nominated for a

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Hand ...

in the 'Contemporary Blues Album of the Year' category for his album ''Magic Honey''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Cyril 1948 births Living people American percussionists American soul musicians Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans People from Slidell, Louisiana Neville family (show business) The Neville Brothers members The Meters members Grammy Award winners African-American musicians 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people Ruf Records artists