Person
Biography
Charles Neville was the noted "horn man" for the New Orleans-based Neville Brothers who became an unlikely staple in theWestern Massachusetts music scene and a familiar Pillow presence in his last two decades. The second-oldest Neville brother, he began his musical career at 15 and went on to tour with musicians including Carlos Santana, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, Fats Domino and many others. Formally launching as a group in 1976, the four Neville Brothers officially disbanded in 2012 although they later reunited for a New Orleans appearance in 2015. After moving to the nearby hilltown of Huntington, Charles Neville enmeshed himself in the local music community, playing regularly at Pittsfield’s Mission Bar and at The Mount in Lenox. At the Pillow, he was a guest musician for the Tap Program in 2010, accompanying dancers in the studio and in one of their Inside/Out presentations—an event now preserved on video in the Pillow Archives. In both 2011 and 2012, he taught T’ai Chi at the Pillow as part of the Community Dance Program. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a year before his death in April 2018 at 79.
Source of Biography
Written by Norton Owen for Jacob's Pillow Remembers.