Men At Work's Greg Ham Found Dead

Greg Ham in 1985

Greg Ham, the flautist from Australian band Men at Work, has been found dead by police at his Melbourne home on Thursday (April 19) at the age of 58.

The cause of death is yet to be determined. "Because of the early stages of our investigation, we're not prepared to go into the exact details of what has occurred,' Detective Senior Sergeant Shane O'Connell told reporters.

Mr. Ham joined Men At Work in 1979 playing flute, harmonica, saxophone and keyboards. He played the chirpy flute riff in the song Down Under which became an international hit. The song which was released in early 1982 and went on to top the charts in both the UK and US. 

 

Men at Work scored such hits as "Who Can It Be Now" and "Down Under." Last October, the group lost a protracted copyright suit that claimed their riff for "Down Under" came from a familiar local nursery rhyme, "Kookaburra." In 2010, a judge ruled that the band had copied the melody
and that it should pay 5 percent of past profits.

Despite it, "Down Under" remains the unofficial anthem for Australia and came in fourth in a 2001 music-industry survey of the best Australian songs. Men at Work broke up in 1985, and Ham had been working as a guitar teacher in recent years.

RIP Greg Hum.