Music historian Kenneth Womack reveals in an upcoming book the dark side to the Beatlemania frenzy that took hold across Australia and New Zealand 59 years ago.
Musical journeyman had one of the great, distinctive Australian voices
By Glenn A Baker
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1946-2021
“He’s big, this cat” wrote one Roger Aldridge in the September 20, 1969 issue of
The Age. “Broad shouldered, big armed. And hairy. A wild mass of tight curls halo a broad tawny green saturnine face from which burn the most honest eyes you ever saw. His wide mouth is humorous and framed by a hairline moustache which drops to two chin tufts.”
Doug Parkinson rarely went unnoticed – for his voice, his physique, his very presence. From the moment he appeared as a participant in Australian popular music in 1966 he commanded attention. Decades later he became a true household name – one of the great distinctive Australian voices.