Entertainer is dedicated to the stage

Performing on stage has long been a love affair for Edward "Eddie Storm" Bellamy, one of a number of recipients of the Order of Australia medal this year.

Mr Bellamy has dedicated his life to the arts and will now receive the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service during this year's Australia Day celebrations.

The 84-year-old Mandurah resident said he was honoured to receive the award and wanted to thank all those who were behind his nomination.

"This has been a very humbling experience," he said.

"I have always wanted to sing and I have travelled the world doing what I love, so this award is truly special."

Mr Bellamy has been an entertainer for more than 60 years and had his start as a band singer in the late 1960s.

He completed two tours of Vietnam in the early 1970s as part of a group of performers sent to entertain the troops and said it was one of the defining moments of his life.

"I went away a nervous band singer and came home an entertainer," he said.

"It was an experience I will never forget, it was an honour just to be there and I often felt very insignificant when I sang for those heroes."

Mr Bellamy worked for many years in nightclubs around Australia and travelled the world as a performer aboard the SS Australis.

He returned to Perth and continued his career, eventually finding himself as a popular performer at seniors' events.

"I sing a huge variety of songs from Tom Jones classics to 60s rock and my signature song is Music of the Night from the Phantom of the Opera," he said.

Mandurah MLA David Templeman has known Mr Bellamy for a number of years and was one of the driving forces behind the local performer's application for the Order of Australia medal.

"Eddie Storm has always been willing to support worthy causes and revels in putting a smile on the faces of his audiences," he said.

"He is exactly the sort of person we should be honouring on Australia Day and I'm so pleased he has been recognised with an Australian honour."