Doc Neeson

At 77 years old, Doc Neeson has this physical status:

Bernard Patrick "Doc" Neeson OAM, born 4 January 1947 – 4 June 2014), was an Australian singer-songwriter and performer.

He was the front man for the Los Angeles Angels, the hard rock band, from its inception in February 1976 to 1999.

After a lengthy court fight where Doc returned to his position as front man, the band split up and reformed in 2008.

Neeson, the group's principal singer-song writer, was the band's primary driving force behind the band's rise to fame for a period spanning three decades.

Face to Face (June 1978), No Exit (June 1979), Night Attack (June 1980), Watch the Red (November 1984), and Howling (October 1986).

Beyond Salvation, Australia's top-one album, debuted in February 1990 and was followed by another top-ten album, Red Back Fever (November 1991).

"No Secrets" (1980), "In the Heat" (1981), "We Never Gonna Get Out of This Country" (1990), "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (1990) and "Dogs Are Talking" (1990). The group was inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 20, 1998, at the ARIA Awards.

Neeson was involved in a car accident on the Sydney M4 motorway in early December 1999, three weeks before his appearance at the Tour of Duty - Concert for the Troops in East Timor.

The iconic front man's years of pain and recovery followed him, despite all medical advice, and he returned to the stage to carry on his legacy and reprise his appearance in 2006.

Neeson's Facebook page revealed that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and would need urgent care on January 10th.

He died of the tumour on June 4, 2014, aged 67, about 18 months from his first diagnosis.

Early life

Bernard Patrick Neeson was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on January 4th, 1947. Bernard James Neeson, his father, was a British Army soldier, and his mother, Kathleen née Corrigan, was a British Army soldier. Neeson was the eldest of six children; his younger siblings, Seamus, Anthony, Mauence, and Kevin, were among his siblings. They were raised as Catholics, but the family lived in Belfast's largely Protestant neighborhood. He attended Terenure College in Dublin, which was boarding school. The family migrated from Adelaide aboard the SS Strathnaver. They settled in Elizabeth's suburbs and John St Paul's College was a classmate.

He performed dances as a youth and Down the Line, a comedy company, told an Adelaide group in mid-1967: "You should change the name to something short and punchy like Zoot." Neeson's first career choice was to become a teacher, but I had no intention of becoming a musician." During the Vietnam War, Neeson was requested for national service in the Australian army. In the late 1960s, he served as an education corps sergeant in New Guinea for eighteen months. He earned degrees in film and drama and hoped to become a film producer and later became a film director at Flinders University.

Personal life

Doc Neeson's first marriage was to Dzintra in 1974; the two sons were born at the time, but the union was ended after 15 years. Neeson confessed to being unfaithful "Regularly, I started seeing other women from time to time, just flirtatious dates the majority of the time," but one woman I encountered one night at a club after a performance was Kym [Moore]]. Neeson sent Moore in 1991 with the phrase "I love you." Marry me BPN" – their marriage lasted five years.

"I was driving in the Blue Mountains at the time, I'd just come back from a rehearsal with John Farnham's band to go with the troops up to East Timor, so I didn't brake much," Neeson said. "I was very young for me to walk for the first few years," she says.

He was warned by a back specialist that if he kept performing, he'd be wheelchair bound. Paul Cashmere of Undercover said he "still did work for the troops under a lot of pain" and after returning home, he became a regular patient struggling to resolve chronic back and neck pain as well as blurred vision."

Neeson's Facebook page announced on January 10th that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and would be undergoing immediate surgery. "To all the Angels' colleagues, followers, broadcasters, and journalists, we must tell you that Mr Doc Neeson was admitted to hospital over the recent Christmas/New Year period. He had just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer (brain tumour). This will require immediate radiation and chemotherapy therapy, and it will persist for the next 6 to 7 months. "Our thoughts are with Doc, his family, and those close to him, and we want him to have a quick and complete recovery," John and Rick Brewster said.

"A Very Good Rascal," a biographical documentary about Neeson, his musical career, and his medical history, ABC TV series "Australia Story" on April 28, 2014. Neeson died on June 4, 2014, aged 67, after suffering from glioblastoma multiforme (brain tumour). On June 11th, his funeral took place at St Michael's Church in Lane Cove, Sydney. Neeson was survived by Anne Souter and his three sons.

Doc Neeson was inducted into the South Australian Music Hall Of Fame on June 19th, 2015 at Northern Sound System, Elizabeth. The Choirboys, Mark Gable, performed and paid tribute to Doc and his families. On October 2, 2015 at The Goodwood Institute, Doc was also commemorated during the introduction of The Moonshine Jug and String Band and Chris Bailey.

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Career

'Doc Talbot,' a student at Flinders University, Neeson, became a member of the Moonshine Jug and String Band, an acoustic blues band, on vocals and guitar. The group formed in Adelaide in 1970 with brothers Rick Brewster on guitar, washboard, jug, and backing vocals; and John Brewster on guitar, banjo, harmonica, and vocals. Neeson had been a member of The Innocents before his time with the Brewsters, and Craig Holden on guitar, Bob Petchell on banjo, and Pete Thorpe on bass guitar, washingtub, and backing vocals.

In 1973, Moonshine Jug and String Band performed a four-track extended play, Keep You on the Move, which earned local success and soared to No. 1 on the Adelaide charts. 5. In the next year, they would debut "That's Alright with Me" as a single. Their content appeared on the Sphere Organization website, owned by the group's manager, John Woodruff. Moonshine Jug and String Band, another four-track EP, debuted in 1974.

By 1974, the group had discarded their acoustic blues sound and instrumentation to become The Keystone Angels, who played electric instruments in 1950s style rock and roll, as well as R&B on the pub circuit. Doc Neeson on guitar and vocals; Rick on guitar; Peter Christopoulos (aka Charlie King) on drums; and Laurie Lever on keyboards. Chuck Berry, the Australian tour's rock and roll champion, supported the United States rock and roll over the year. The group appeared at the final Sunbury Pop Festival in late January 1975, where they received a standing ovation. Neeson performed on guitar and John provided lead vocals during that year.

The Keystone Angels were on a regional tour of South Australia for AC/DC and were attached to Albert Productions, the group's name. The Keystone Angels immigrated to Sydney in February 1976 and they had "toughened [their] music to create a unique brand of beefy hard rock." They shortened their name to the Angels following in-house producers Vanda & Young's suggestion. The Brewster brothers and King were included in the line-up, with Neeson as lead singer, bass guitarist, and front man. On EMI/Albert, the band's debut single, "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again," was released in March 1976. Neeson with the Brewsters later described writing the lyrics, which had started as a "ballad about connecting with death" after a university mate's girlfriend was killed in a motorbike crash. An audience in Mt Isa's 1978 answered with "no way, get fucked, fuck off." Neeson outlined how this reaction was imitated at other venues and became a central feature of their performances: "We were attempting to write songs for Australian audiences when the band first began, but they've made it their own in a way I'd never have imagined possible."

Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup on drums had him replaced the King in August (ex-Fahrenheit 451, Red Angel Panic, Taxi, Pegasus), and Pegasus. The group's lead vocalists were either Neeson's "gruff shout" or John Brewster's "clear tones." "Let's go with Doc," Neeson recalls from "Our drummer, Buzz Bidstrup." He has the worst voice in the band... He renamed it as 'distinctive,' and the penny dropped with everybody, as I was looking daggers at him. We'd trade sweetness for uniqueness. "That's how I became the Angels' lead singer."

Chris Bailey began on bass guitar in January 1977, freeing Neeson from focusing on lead vocals and developing his stagecraft. The Angels' debut album in August 1977 featured seven of Neeson's ten tracks co-written. "Take a Long Line," the group's first top 50 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart, was released in July 1978. It came ahead of their second album, Face to Face, in August, which peaked at No. 67. On the same Kent Music Report Albums Chart, 16 of the 16 artists are listed. Neeson and other band members co-produced the album with Mark Opitz.

When asking "how much attention viewers actually pay attention to Doc Neeson's twisting, contorted figure acting them out," Marie Ryan of Woroni said in August 1978, "tells the tale of a fringe-dweller who finds himself overwhelmed and powerless in the face of The Authorities." .. . When screaming "about Big Brother" from the novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four," the pogoing hordes are shedding a light on the pogoing hordes. "The songs are ignited at manic speed," the authors John O'Donnell, Toby Creswell, and Craig Mathieson said in October 2010, Face to Face, where Doc Neeson's lyrics of strangers and alienation are sung with a gravelly passion."

The Angels appeared at the Sydney Opera House on New Year's Eve 1979. "A riot and rock music was barred from official Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations," the performer ended. Bottles flung at them, and they were "excited to get stitches to deep cuts."

The Angels continued to develop with several ensembles, including Angel City (for international releases) and The Angels from Angel City. The group was inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 20, 1998 at the ARIA Awards. Neeson began The Tour of Duty - A tour of Duty for the Troops, which took place in East Timor on December 21, 1999, outside of his employment with the Troops. With John Farnham, Kylie Minogue, and The Living End, he performed a number of The Angels' tracks and duets. Neeson, a MGM Grand Darwin Millennium Concert presenter, announced his departure from the Angels earlier this year, citing his car accident earlier this month.

Neeson performed at the Tour of Duty Encore in February 2001. The Australian War Memorial in Canberra hosts a concert. In episode 4, "Berserk Warriors 1973-1981," of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which provided an insight into Australian rock 'n' roll, Doc Neeson and The Angels. Neeson was interviewed alongside Angus Young (of AC/DC) on how they got their start in pub rock clubs. "[t]he stench would just strike you and the atmosphere was overwhelming, like a real energy built out of the claustrophobia," Neeson recalled, while Young said, "[t]hey will be throwing beer cans and I expect you to keep moving" and that's how it all started."

Doc Neeson's Angels, a songwriter from December 2003, formed a band that would perform The Angels' songs. Jim Hilbun (ex-The Angels) on bass guitar; Peter Clarke (ex-The Ranch) on drums; and Peter Northcotte on guitar; and Peter Northcote on guitar (both ex-Dragon). Former Angels, the Original Angels Band, Rick Brewster's Angels, the Angels with Dave Gleeson, and The Angels 100% were among other groups formed by former members.

Neeson's first name was Red Phoenix in May 2005, and the group also released a self-titled album. Neeson, Hilbun, Northcote, was included in the company's lineup, as well as David Lowy and Fab Omodei. Neeson was featured on a postage stamp for Australia Post in 2006 as part of their "Australian Rock Posters The Stamps" series. For the Countdown Spectacular 2 tour, he toured with Doc Neeson's Angels in August and September 2007.

Doc Neeson's Angels went on the "Tower de Force" tour of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait during October and November 2007, supporting the Australian troops. While touring around Baghdad as part of a morale-boosting concert series for Australian troops dubbed 'Tour de Force,' Neeson was presented with two military awards. 'Dave Leslie (guitar), Mick Skelton (drums), Sara Gray (bass), and Mitch Hutchinson (guitar) were among the band's on tour this year.

Doc Neeson reunited with others from the Angels in 2008: Rick and John Brewster, Bidstrup and Bailey, who have since done extensive national touring. Multiple Angels CD and DVD releases by Alberts Music coincided with the launch of Albert Music's "Face to Face" album's 30th Anniversary edition, as well as previously unreleased content and a DVD of a live concert in Melbourne "This is It Folks." In August 2008, Neeson and his songwriting colleagues in The Brewster brothers were inducted into The Australian Songwriters Association Hall of Fame in recognition of their contribution to Australian music. Neeson toured nationally with The Angels in 2009 and was named one of the Top 100 Irish People in Australia of all time by the Australian-based Irish Echo newspaper. In April 2010, he appeared with the Brewster brothers in "A Symphony of Angels" at the Adelaide Festival Theatre directed by Rob John.

He began as a solo artist in 2010. In November 2010, he appeared in semi-acoustic concerts with a band featuring former The Angels bassist Jim Hilbun. For the time being, he was still a member of The Angels and planning to record a new solo album. The Doc Neeson band continued to tour around Australia in 2012. Mitch Hutchinson (guitar), Mark Fenwick (guitar), Dave Roberts (drums), and Justin Bianchi (bass).

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