Aaron Neville Divulges Decades-Long Heroin Battle That Began At 16
Aaron Neville has opened up about his decades-long addiction to heroin.
The New Orleans native shared an excerpt from his upcoming memoir, Tell It Like It Is: My Story, with PEOPLE. The exclusive sample detailed the musician trying the drug at 16 while at a friend’s house.
“I’d heard people talking about it way back in the Calliope [housing projects]. And I knew plenty of other people who were doing it. They seemed to be having a good time with it. I wanted to do it, too.
“I was playing gigs and making money, so I had some cash to score,” Neville added. “And I was an inquisitive kid, always looking for the next sensation, the next experience, the next adventure. For me, heroin was just one more thing like that.”
It wasn’t until Aaron and his brothers landed a record deal that he chose to get clean in the 1980s. After completing that rehab stint, he never did heroin again. However, he would struggle with an opioid addiction later on in his life.
“I was really tired of running. I drew a picture of myself on a cross with syringes as the nails. It was killing me slowly. I was ready to kick for good. I was excited and afraid. I knew what mainlining did to me. I knew what withdrawal feels like. But begging off the drugs entirely — that was a new venture. I was 40 years old, and I hadn’t been clean since junior high school.”
Elsewhere in the preview, Neville revealed how he got his signature face tattoo. While some people may see the ink as a Christian cross, the soul musician admitted it was actually a dagger.
“For my sixteenth birthday, I gave myself a present that has lasted all my life. I got the tattoo on my face,” he disclosed. “My school buddy came around, we sat down on my parents’ back steps, he tied two needles to a matchstick, and he put the tattoo on my cheek. It’s a dagger. Some people see it as a cross, and it was one thought away from being a skull and crossbones. Don’t ask me why I did it. I guess stupid was set in place at that age.”
Aaron Neville’s Tell It Like It Is: My Story will be released on Sept. 5, 2023.
More from VIBE.com
