Art Neville of The Neville Brothers has died, aged 81

23 July 2019, 10:24 | Updated: 2 August 2019, 13:33

Art Neville has passed away aged 81, the funk musician's manager has confirmed.

The founding member of The Neville Brothers and The Meters died on Monday (July 22).

Grammy Award winning Art, known to his fans as 'Poppa Funk', died at his home in New Orleans with his wife by his side.

The news was confirmed by Neville's long-time manager Kent Sorrell.

The star battled ill health in the last couple of years, though a cause of death was not given. Fans of Art will know the musician appeared on The Neville Brothers' final studio album in 2004.

They then went on to take part in a farewell concert in New Orleans in 2015.

The Neville Brothers - Bird On A Wire

Art's fans rushed to Twitter following the news, with one posting: "New Orleans has lost another legend..."

Another posted: "I don’t usually post when someone passes away, but the passing of Art Neville is hitting me harder than usual. He was such a kind-hearted man."

In an emotional post, bandmate George Porter Jr wrote: "Art Neville was my hero and I loved him very much. This is hurting me to my core."

The Neville Brothers started as a band in 1976, when the four brothers Art, Charles (who passed away in 2018), Aaron and Cyril came together for the recording session of the Wild Tchoupitoulas.