Aaron Neville

When I get down to Louisiana, I get to have a taste of some of that great food.

I eat a lot of fish to stay healthy.

I write poetry on my iPhone. I've got about 100 poems on there.

I didn't just get to 75 years by tiptoeing. I had to work hard sometimes.

Without faith, I don't think I'd be here.

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

I've done all different kinds of genres - doo-wop, pop, funk, gospel, country, jazz, you name it.

Doo-wop is the true music to me, man. Doo-wop was what nurtured me and grew me into who I am, and I guess even when I was in school, the teacher probably thought I had ADD or something every day, because I'd be beating on the desks, singing like the Flamingos or the Spaniels or Clyde McPhatter or somebody.

I even done a doo-wop version of the Mickey Mouse march.

The first time I recorded without Allen Toussaint, I wanted to do doo-wop. Everything I've done since then has got some kind of doo-wop essence in it.

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.

It's up to God to do the judging. You haven't walked in my boots, so how are you going to judge me?

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.

We used to play football on the levee, with no shirts on in the summer - August in New Orleans - and my skin would turn red. They'd call me Redskin, Red Apache, then it turned around to Apache Red.

I owe it all to Jesus.

I always tell people I want to see the world through His eyes, and I want people to see Him in me.

But I knew if I ran I'd never be able to sing, so I had to take my punishment.

Until I went to rehab, I didn't understand what it did.

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

When I record something, I'll take a drive and just listen.