Greg Ham, whose iconic saxophone and flute work on such songs as “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under” helped propel the Australian group Men At Work to international stardom, has been found dead in his home in Melbourne. His body was found by two friends who went to check on him after not hearing from him in some time.
Although police won’t reveal anything about the investigation, Ham is reported to have been depressed over a copyright infringement case brought against the band which claimed that the flute riffs from “Down Under” were lifted from an older song, “Kookaburra Sits Under the Old Gum Tree.” The band was ordered to pay a percentage of profits from the song, but Ham was reported to be more concerned for his legacy.
I hope Ham died in a peaceable manner. I would hate to hear that he did himself harm because of this. I don’t feel this diminishes his reputation any more than George Harrison’s was diminished because of the “My Sweet Lord/He’s So Fine” suit. I feel that he was unconsciously inspired by the song for his flute solo, rather than plagiarizing it.
I’m a huge Colin Hay fan but I wasn’t really familiar with Greg Ham’s work outside Men at Work. I went to Hay’s site and found a sweet tribute he wrote today: www.colinhay.com
Ham was the short guy who played flute and sax. He and Colin Hay (the lead singer) had known each other since they were seniors in high school in 1972. He was 58.
I felt bad for all of the members of the band back in 2010 when a court ruled they had copied the signature flute riff of Down Under from an old folk song, Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, and they owed the copyright holder money. Apparently Ham was crushed by it:
I vividly remember “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” from elementary school, and was delighted to hear it incorporated in “Down Under”. I thought that was a nice touch.
Everyone was totally blindsided when the law suit came out and it was found that the song was copyrighted… all assumed the old song was in the Public Domain. The rights to the song had changed hands and the new owners and their lawyers saw an opportunity to make a few bucks.
It’s just business, as the Godfather said, but it destroyed Greg Ham.
How horribly depressing. And to think that the owners of the copyright on the Kookaburra song lodged the suit “just because they could get some money out of it,” not out of any real deprivation or need to right a moral wrong. Hope they’re happy.
According to Billboard, police have ruled out foul play in Ham’s death. Although autopsy reports have not been published yet, authorities have determined his death to be non-suspicious.
So that’s some small comfort. While it’s sad that he’s dead, at least it’s good to know his death was natural.
Is it certain that’s what that means? Just because there’s no foul play, and they aren’t suspicious…
Could they have found him with a self-inflicted fatal wound, and just have decided ‘Yup, he offed himself, no question’?
It was kind of crappy, in a way, for the owners of the Kookaburra rights to sue…but they did own the song. Why did MaW fight it? It seems they had a legitimate claim, petty or no.
Such a cool way to work the riff into a song…I also wonder why they didnt’ ask permission?
Sad. I appreciated his later songwriting and vocal contributions later in Men at Work’s career, to the underrated Two Hearts and Brazil.