Men at Work musician found dead
SYDNEY— Greg Ham, 58, a member of the iconic Australian band Men at Work whose saxophone and flute punctuated its biggest hits, was found dead in his Melbourne home on Thursday.
Two concerned friends who had not heard from Ham in some time found the body after going to check on him, police said.
“There are a number of unexplained aspects to it, which has caused our attendance here today, and we’re assisting the local detectives to determine what has occurred,” Detective Senior Sergeant Shane O’connell told reporters.
“We played in a band and conquered the world together,” Men at Work frontman Colin Hay said. “I love him very much. He’s a beautiful man. The saxophone solo on Who Can It Be Now was the rehearsal take. We kept it; that was the one. He’s here forever.”
Ham was perhaps best known for playing the famous flute riff in the band’s smash 1980s hit Down Under. But the beloved tune came under intense scrutiny in recent years after the band was accused of stealing the catchy riff from the children’s campfire song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. In 2010 a judge ruled the band had copied the melody. The group was ordered to hand over a portion of its royalties. Ham later said the controversy had left him devastated.
Down Under and the album it was on, Business As Usual, topped the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983. The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia and was ranked fourth in a 2001 music industry survey of the best Australian songs.