Greg Ham, who played sax and flute for Australian band Men at Work, has passed away.
Police were called to the Carlton home of the 58-year old artist after he failed to turn up for a pharmacy appointment.
Ham was a member of Men At Work from 1979 to 1986 and has been performing on and off with Colin Hay as Men At Work since 1996.
Greg was at the centre of the Down Under controversy recently when the band was sued for plagiarising the Australian evergreen Kookaburra Sitting In The Old Gum Tree.
Men At Work were one of Australia’s biggest music successes of the past 30 years. Down Under was a number one song for the band in the USA, UK and Australia. The album Business As Usual was simultaneously a number one album on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time. It spent 15 weeks at number one of the US album chart.
In February 2010, the Federal Court in Sydney found that Greg’s flute riff from the song had been lifted from the classic Kookaburra, written in 1934. The court ruled that the current copyright owner Larrikan Music was entitled to 5% of mechanical rights to the song since 2002 plus future profits.
Men At Work released three albums Business As Usual, Cargo and Two Hearts.
Post-Men At Work, Greg worked as a school teacher at Carlton North Primary School in Melbourne. He is survived by his wife and two children.
