Juel Nero

Juel (pronounced Jewel) Nero
Juel Nero was born in the small east Texas town of Orange. Which to the locals make up the best part of the Golden Triangle (Orange, Beaumont & Port Arthur) While growing up there he was attracted to the music of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown who also lived in Orange at the time. However because his grandmother insisted that they attend church regularly Juel soon shared his grandmother’s love of gospel music. Whenever Clara Ward, Brother Joe May, Sister Rosetta Thorpe or the Soul Stirrers came to town he would be there in church listening to their music. Often times following one of those concerts, he would try to replicate the sounds and nuances of the songs he heard.
Later Christine (Juels grandmother) and his brother joined his mother in Brooklyn, N. Y. while he was in his teens. Living above a church in Brooklyn soon lured Juel to both the mixed choir and the male chorus. He fondly remembers those years as the ones in which his love for making music and singing was firmly entrenched in him. As a matter of fact, with Pat Patterson (who led the legendary Patterson Singers) guidance and instruction Juel started his development as an interpreter and singer of many genres of music. With Juel singing lead on most of the male chorus' songs, the Mt.Calvary male chorus soon had their own radio show on Sunday mornings out of Newark, New Jersey.
Living in New York at that time was very exciting for Juel because of the emergence of many great singers who came to the Apollo and Paramount theaters to perform. Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Clyde McPhatter and even peers such as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers were the artists that made lasting impressions on him.
Juel returned to the south to live with his aunt, (affectionately called "aunt Faye") who influenced and impressed on him the value of getting an education, so, as she put it , he would have something to fall back on. Living in Louisiana did not deter Juel from embracing his love for singing and performing. After high school, Juel went on to Southern University singing in the choir and doing "gigs" with other students and local bands in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area.
After several years of teaching school in Louisiana, Juel relocated to Oakland, California where he has continued to teach and work with an assortment of different musicians all over the San Francisco Bay Area.
In recent years Juel has sought to reaffirm his god given gift by exposing it to the world. Through the encouragement and influence of his lovely wife Darlene, he has sung practically all over the world. Paris is like a second home where he goes often to entertain at the Brabant Supper Club on the left bank. He won rave reviews at Grundels in Budapest, Hungary. The Meridian Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, The Sheraton Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, The Marriott in Singapore. Most recently he performed to standing room only crowds nightly at the New Orleans club in Salvador, Brazil.