Charmaine Neville is one musician who’s earned some good karma over the years, and now her fans have a chance to help karma along. The singer’s son Damion has launched an online drive to save her Bywater home from foreclosure—something that became necessary after her recent bout with CADASIL syndrome, a hereditary and life-threatening stroke disorder. While Neville has regained her health and returned to work, the bills piled up during the many months that she was unable to perform.
Her family has lived in the house for 28 years, and plenty of Neville music has gone down there —between her and her band, and between her father Charles and his three brothers. “There’s a lot of history in that house,” Damion said this week. While a benefit concert last year paid some of her expenses, it was only enough to handle one of her two mortgages. “I didn’t know that she was going into foreclosure, because your mother never wants to tell you that,” he added.
Charmaine’s good works in the past include organizing concerts to benefit the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans, and saving lives when she drove a busload of neighbors to safety after Katrina. Damion is now hoping to raise $50,000, which will be enough to pay the mortgage and help get Charmaine back to fulltime music-making.
Support the online campaign here: Save Charmaine Neville’s House