Keyboardist Art Neville, one of the famed Neville Brothers, died Monday after years of declining health, his manager said.
He was 81.
Born Arthur Lanon Neville, he was part of a number of musical acts over his lifetime, including The Meters, who toured with The Rolling Stones and served as the studio band for artists such as Patti Labelle, according to the band’s website.
The group reunited several times over the years but the original Meters, or the funky METERS back then, disbanded in the late 1970s. The group received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2018.
After The Meters first fizzled out, Neville founded the Neville Brothers with his three younger siblings — Aaron, Cyril and Charles — in the 1970s in their hometown of New Orleans. The brothers began singing as children, but stopped performing together in the 1950s and the 1960s, then reunited to form the family act.
The Neville Brothers won a Grammy in 1989 for best pop instrumental performance for “Healing Chant” from their Yellow Moon album, which reached Platinum status.
For years, the Neville Brothers were the closing act at the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The four brothers were scattered across the country while the city struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but returned to anchor the festival in 2007.
Though his brothers Aaron and Cyril still perform, Neville announced his retirement in December. Charles Neville died in 2018.
Neville said in a 2013 interview with The Times-Picayune of New Orleans that he was happy with his lifetime in music, even if it didn’t bring him the most financial success.
“I didn’t make a lot of money. Maybe we did make it and didn’t get it. I don’t know,” Neville said. “But it don’t matter. My life is happy, I’m happy, the people that are closest to me are happy. Don’t worry about the other part.”
CORRECTION (July 22, 2019, 5:30 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article included an incorrect photo. The photo was of Cyril Neville, not his brother, Art Neville. It has been replaced by a photo of Art Neville.
