Quotes from Aaron Neville

My drummer, bass player, and guitar player sing backgrounds. They play and sing. I can sing all the harmonies, but I can't do it alone.

I just sing what I feel in my heart. I ain't trying to prove nothing, and I don't think I ever did.

Singing is a prayer to me.

When I'm singing, I connect the dots with notes.

I grew up singing Ray Charles and Jimmy Reed.

My brothers and I would sit out on the park bench and harmonize.

I'm here now because of my faith. That's what got me singing and what has kept me singing. That is what I have: what has kept me doing right and has provided me with the chances and the attitude and the skills to do this.

I feel it was just a few years ago I was running around in short pants.

'Yellow Moon' was a poem. My wife at the time, Joel - she's dead now - it was our 25th anniversary. She had the chance to go on a cruise with her sister. And I'm home with the kids and looking up, and I saw the big moon, and I just started writing.

If you want something to play with go find yourself a toy, baby, my time is too expensive and I'm not a little boy.

So now I have a collection of poetry by Aaron Neville and I give it to people I want to share it with. I'd like to publish it someday.

Every day, some act of kindness comes my way, even if it's just someone opening the door. It happens every day if you keep an eye out for it. Keeping an eye out, that's the key.

I might see something on TV and get inspired to write about it. I can't sit down and plan to write. It has to come to me in my head like someone telling me the words.

I never really got paid for 'Tell It Like Is,' but I look back at it and say God knew what he was doing; he probably figured that if I had got money back in them days, I wouldn't be here now. That's okay. I'm here. And I'm still singing the song.

A lot of my solo albums were produced by different people who had their idea of what songs I should do, and they had me doing a lot of ballads.

My dad and my mom were big Nat King Cole fans, so they had everything he did.

Through the years, I found we had Native American blood in us. My great-grandmother came from the island of Martinique, and they hooked up with the Native Americans of Louisiana.

The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience.

I've been into every doo-wop there is. I think I went to the university of doo-wop-ology.

I eat a lot of fish to stay healthy.

Me and my partners had been stealing cars for a while.

When I was living in the projects, I had a mop stick for my horse. I wanted to be Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, so I would ride my mop through the projects.

When I sang, I couldn't help making those little curves. People would say, 'Why don't you sing straight?' But I have always had to put something in.

I always feel I'm blessed, you know. I thank God for letting me use his voice. That's how I see it.