Aaron Neville’s voice has been an unmistakable part of the American music scene since the 1960s and he is still going strong.

In his career, he’s scored four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits. His voice is timeless, but not ageless. Each tune is tinged with the sounds of wisdom, experience and lessons learned. it’s the kind of sound that gets richer and more soulful as time passes. He’s putting all his talents on full display in his new album, Apache, which features a first for this legendary singer — he wrote the songs.

He talks to Growing Bolder about why it took him until his mid-70s to release an album of songs he wrote himself. Find out how it was inspired by his life, which has famously included some difficult moments, but also by his love affair with his wife, whom he met after his first wife passed away after they’d spent nearly 50 years together.

He reveals the difficult days after losing his wife and how meeting Sarah brought sunshine into his life again. Sarah is a photographer (that’s her photo above!) and Neville tells us the touching story of how he fell in love with her the moment she took his photograph.

The 75-year-old Neville offers advice for others living with grief who fear they’ll never know joy again, and how it can happen at any time, even in your mid-70s.