Joel Roux-Neville

Obituary

From https://www.theitem.com/stories/joel-roux-neville-wife-of-singing-l...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Joel Roux-Neville, the wife of R&B singing legend Aaron Neville, died Friday after a long battle with lung cancer. She was 66.

Roux-Neville was first diagnosed with the disease in 2004 and at that time was given three months to live. She died at the couple's home south of Nashville surrounded by family members, her husband's spokesman, Jerry Digney, said Friday evening.

The high school sweethearts would have celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, Digney said in a news release.

"Joel was the love of my life and she had a tremendous courage and spirit. I'm sure God will reward her for her loyalty, good heart and sense of family," her husband said in a statement.

While Roux-Neville never performed with her husband's family, she was a fixture in the New Orleans music scene for decades, Digney said. She often was offstage at his performances, especially the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Aaron Neville had returned home shortly before Christmas to be with his wife following a nationwide concert tour.

The couple moved to the Nashville area in 2005 shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated their hometown of New Orleans.

Aaron Neville had said in an interview last September that his wife had faced her illness with a remarkable will to live.

"She's strong," he told The Associated Press. "She's even been going shopping."

A visitation at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in New Orleans was scheduled for next Friday. The funeral will be held next Saturday, WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported.

Survivors besides her husband include four children, her mother, a sister and two brothers, all of New Orleans.

Aaron Neville, a member of the R&B family The Neville Brothers, has sung pop, blues, soul, gospel, jazz and country. Few in recorded music history have performed a more diverse repertoire.

He's best known for his 1966 hit "Tell It Like It Is" and his two duets with Linda Ronstadt – "I Don't Know Much" in 1989 and "All My Life" in 1990 – both Grammy winners.

From https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/music/article_7e690fa5-0de1...

Aaron Neville lost Joel, his wife of 48 years, to cancer in January 2007 and returned to New Orleans for the first time since losing his home in the 2005 post-Katrina levee failures to bury her. “I can’t explain it, what my heart’s been through,” Neville said at the time. “It needs some healing and nurturing.”