Men At Work's Greg Ham Gone At 58

Most musicians specialize in a single instrument. They pick it up as a child and practice for thousands of hours to perfect that single skill. During Men At Work tours, Greg Ham was known to play the flute, the harmonica, the saxophone and even the keyboards. He had a knack for quickly growing proficient with different instruments, and that ability served his band well, allowing the Australian group an incredible arsenal of sounds it could implement into various songs. During the early 1980s, the world took notice. The singles “Down Under” and “Who Can It Be Now” both hit number one in the United States and numerous other countries. World tours followed and even a Grammy, but after thirty years in the public eye, the journey is now over for Ham.

The fifty-eight-year-old was found deceased at his Melbourne home this week by two friends. They hadn’t heard from the musician in awhile and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, and authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of death. According to The BBC, police have refused to speak on record about their early findings, but given Ham’s lasting contribution to music, the details will definitely come out in short order.

Following a period of inactivity in the mid 80s to mid 90s, Ham teamed back up with the band’s main creative force Colin Hay for various appearances. They played the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics and jetted around the world for numerous concerts. More recently, a high profile lawsuit between various parties over whether the “Down Under” flute riff was based off the folk song “Kookaburra” worked its way through the Australian court system. Men at Work eventually lost, and the decision hit Ham very hard.

Regardless of what the ultimate cause of death proves to be, Ham’s loss will no doubt be felt by his former bandmates, his family and his millions of fans. He brought a lot of joy to a lot of people, and those smiles will never fade.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.