Doc Neeson gone

[dedja]

Succumbed to the Big C.

DOC Neeson, the lead singer of Australian rockers The Angels, has died of brain cancer.

He was 67.

The singer behind hits such as Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? was diagnosed with a brain tumour in January 2013.

Neeson had battled a brain tumour for 17 months butv died this morning at 7.15am.

His children Dzintra, Daniel, Aidan and Kieran and partner Annie Souter thanked friends and fans “for their support through this dark time”.

“We love you Dad. You couldn’t have made any of your sons more proud of you if you tried. May your beautiful soul rest in peace sweet angel, fly high,” his children said in a joint statement.

His partner Annie expressed her wishes for Neeson with a Shakespeare quote.

“Good Night, Sweet Prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Neeson underwent surgery to remove the tumour but an MRI revealed the tumour had returned in February this year, with the singer saying it might be “life threatening”.

“The news is grim, but some people can get through this, and that’s the way I try to think about things,” he told the ABC’s Australian Story.

“So I’m looking forward optimistically to the future.”

Neeson said his initial reaction to the tumour had been “shock of course”. “When somebody puts a use by date on me, but I still hung on to a shred of hope that I’d get back on the stage at some point.”

In March this year he released his first single in seven years, Walking in the Rain, after performing the song to critical acclaim on the SBS TV show Rockwiz.

Shortly afterwards he performed at a fundraising gig at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre with Jimmy Barnes, Peter Garrett, Angry Anderson and other legends of the Australian music industry.

Neeson was born in Belfast and moved with his family to Adelaide when he was 13.

The Angels started life in Adelaide as The Moonshine Jug and String Band in the early 1970s.

They went on to become the Keystone Angels.

In 1975, they became simply The Angels and a year later they released their breakthrough single Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again.

The song is perhaps most widely know for the expletive-laden “audience response” during the chorus.

“The Australian audiences in their inimitable fashion added their own part to (the song) which is what I call the chant or sometimes the response,” Neeson told Australian Story during an interview earlier this year.

“And it suddenly became international in its own way. It now gets sung in pubs in England. I took a band to the Middle East, they were singing it there.

“In a way I’m really delighted to hear that because it’s Australian audiences making a song their own. And from the point of view when the band first started, we were trying to write songs for Australian audiences, they’ve made it their own in a way I’d never have thought possible.”

Their other hits included Take a Long Line, Marseilles, Shadow Boxer, No Secrets, and a cover version of the Eric Burdon hit We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.

Neeson’s final gig with the band was in New Year’s Eve in 1999.

Tributes for the singer are pouring in on social media.

[RustyCage]

Such sad news. Even though the news was grim I was holding out that there would be some hope of a positive outcome. A true legend of Australian music, will be sadly missed.

[Wedgie]

Absolutely devastated, in tears.

My favourite frontman of my favourite band of all time.

Doc and I four years ago at the Adelaide Town Hall:

doc.jpg (40.8 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

[stampy]

a sad sad day for oz music RIP Doc

[Arch44]

Great band, great front man. RIP
Long line my favourite.

[southee]

Devastating news today.

One of greatest rock front men ever......

RIP up in the heavens Doc......your music will last forever and I know many generations to come will still be listening to you ......

[wristwatcher]

******* cancer.

[buster07]

Legend........RIP

[Aerie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6YuWkI4kcs

RIP.

[mal]

9:34pm
Foxtel Max 805
Monday 9/6/2014
Angels and DOCumentary