It Was 50 Years Ago Today: “Tell It Like It Is” by Aaron Neville

January 10, 1967
“Tell It Like It Is” by Aaron Neville
#1 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles chart, January 7 – February 10, 1967

Today, Aaron Neville is known for his ’80s and ’90s soft soul-pop hits, his membership in New Orleans R&B dynasty the Neville family, and for his distinctive appearance, in which his prominent mole, face tattoo, and hulking physique contrast with his delicate high tenor.

Decades before entering the public consciousness with his duets with Linda Ronstadt, however, Neville had earned not only a reputation as a great singer in his hometown, but a national smash hit and soul classic of his own.

Yet, Neville also spent nearly 25 years as a one-hit wonder, a victim of his extraordinary sudden success.

Neville first came to prominence with a series of records written and produced by New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint — one of which, 1960’s “Over You,” just missed the R&B Top 20.

It would take six years for Neville to break through into mainstream success, however. Reportedly, Neville was working as a longshoreman when he teamed up with local musicians Lee Diamond and George Davis. The pair had founded a brand-new label, Par-Lo Records, and had written a tune that would be perfect for Neville to sing.

“Tell It Like It Is” is a pretty standard ballad on its face: the singer implores his potential paramour to “forget your foolish pride” and admit she really loves him. What makes the song special is the terrific New Orleans R&B arrangement (replete with rolling piano triplets) and, naturally, Neville himself.

The singer’s feathery tenor gives him an air of romantic vulnerability, but there’s also a toughness in his delivery that marks him as someone not willing to be pushed around. When he asks his girl her to “tell it like it is,” it’s not a pitiful plea, but a command.

“Tell It Like It Is” was a runaway hit, topping the Billboard R&B charts for five weeks and soaring up the Hot 100, lodging at #2 behind the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer.”

But as quickly as “Tell It Like It Is” pushed Neville up the charts, it pulled him down again. As a regional upstart, Par-Lo Records was ill-equipped to handle the overwhelming demand of a major national success. The label went into debt trying to press and distribute records while its receivables lagged behind.

Neville recorded a few more singles for Par-Lo, but the label lacked the resources to promote them. Soon afterward, Par-Lo went belly-up, having released only six singles and one big hit in its brief lifespan.

Neville would seem like an obvious candidate for another label to court, but soul music in 1967 was moving in a much grittier, funkier, harder-grooving direction. “Tell It Like It Is,” with its gently rocking beat, could have been dropped in from half a decade or so earlier.

Neville didn’t fit in among the Stax, Motown, or Atlantic sound of the era, and local labels may have been afraid he’d bankrupt them too. He cut a few singles on Bell Records and Mercury in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, but it was his reunion with siblings Charles, Cyril, and Art (the latter the founder of funk legends the Meters) as the Neville Brothers in 1978 that returned him to the critical spotlight, if not the pop charts.

That would come a decade later, when Neville guested on four tracks on Linda Ronstadt’s 1989 LP Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind. The first single from the album, the duet “Don’t Know Much,” became a runaway success, topping the Adult Contemporary charts, equaling “Tell It Like It Is” at #2 on the pop charts, and winning a Grammy in 1990.

Another Ronstadt-Neville pairing, “All My Life,” would also become an Adult Contemporary #1 and Grammy winner. Neville then earned a major hit of his own with a cover of the Main Ingredient’s “Everybody Plays the Fool” in 1991.

For all the belated success that these record gave him, however, it’s hard not to ponder the hits he could have had at the peak of his powers, had he been able to follow up one of the greatest soul classics of the ’60s.

It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.

Sally O'Rourke

Sally O’Rourke works in an office and sometimes writes about music. She blogs about every song to ever top the Billboard Hot 100 (in order) at No Hard Chords. She has also contributed to The Singles Jukebox, One Week // One Band, and PopMatters. Special interests include girl groups, soul pop, and over-analyzing chord changes and lyrics as if deciphering a secret code. She was born in Baton Rouge and lives in Manhattan. Her favorite Nugget is “Liar, Liar” by The Castaways.