Doc Neeson has been awarded the Order of Australia medal for his services to music and the community.
Doc Neeson photo by Ros O'Gorman
The 66-year old original singer for The Angels was diagnosed with a brain tumour over Christmas and is currently undergoing treatment. This news of the award coming on Australia Day was a big boost to Doc’s morale.
Doc was born in Ireland and migrated to Australia with his family as a child. In the 1960s he was conscripted into the Australian army and served as an education corps sergeant in Papua New Guinea for 18 months.
Doc was behind ‘The Tour of Duty – Concert for the Troops’ and held his first event in East Timor in 1999.
After suffering a spinal injury from a serious car accident, Doc announced his departure from The Angels on New Year’s Eve 1999.
In the past decade, Doc had a brief reunion with The Angels in 2008 around the reissue of the classic ‘Face To Face’ album when the band toured the album live. Since then he had announced plans to tour his own version of The Angels called The Angels 100% featuring former members of the band.
The Angels 100% project has been placed on hold while Doc undergoes his cancer treatment for most of this year.
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