A 1991 cover of the song by
Aaron Neville, from the album Warm Your Heart, was also successful, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 in
New Zealand.
American singer
Aaron Neville recorded a
cover version of "Everybody Plays the Fool" in 1991 which also hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching No. 8 in the fall of that year, and it spent 20 weeks on the chart.[3][12] This was Neville's third Top 10 hit on the pop chart, following "
Tell It Like It Is" (1967, No. 2) and his
duet with
Linda Ronstadt, "
Don't Know Much" (1989, No. 2). Neville's single also went to No. 1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart.[2] In addition, it was a No. 1 single in New Zealand.
Critical reception
The song received a positive review from
AllMusic. Alex Henderson felt that "Everybody Plays the Fool" showed that Neville still had plenty of warmth and charisma.[11] Pan-European magazine Music & Media stated that "the
New Orleanssoul brother has found the right catchy tune on a
reggae beat to establish his enormous vocal acrobatics on
EHR level again."[13] David Fricke from Rolling Stone described the song as a "rinky-dink reggae cover".[14]
Music video
Neville's music video was set in
New Orleans, and featured an appearance of his niece,
Arthel Neville.