# Greg Ham, ex-Men At Work saxophonist and flute player, found dead. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293 "2012-04-19T17:31:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/1 "2012-04-19T17:31:07Z")
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](http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1683444/greg-ham-dead-men-at-work.jhtml) 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. > [@](#): > > “It has destroyed so much of my song,” he told an Australian paper after the 2010 ruling. “It will be the way the song is remembered, and I hate that. I’m terribly disappointed that that’s the way I’m going to be remembered — for copying something.” 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. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/2 "2012-04-19T18:20:16Z")
This stinks. Greg Ham is a real favorite of mine–vastly underrated as a musician. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/3 "2012-04-19T18:39:30Z")
☹ Sad. I appreciated his later songwriting and vocal contributions later in Men at Work’s career, to the underrated _Two Hearts_ and _Brazil_. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/4 "2012-04-19T23:04:57Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/5 "2012-04-20T06:32:14Z")
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: [ > [@](#): > > Ham later said the controversy had left him devastated, and he worried it would tarnish his legacy. > > “It has destroyed so much of my song,” he told Melbourne’s The Age newspaper after the court ruling. “It will be the way the song is remembered, and I hate that. I’m terribly disappointed that that’s the way I’m going to be remembered - for copying something.” ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS\_OBIT\_HAM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-19-23-06-43](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_OBIT_HAM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-19-23-06-43)) RIP Mr. Ham. And before anyone else can say it, I’ll say it: now he’ll spend the rest of eternity down under the land in a land down under. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/6 "2012-04-20T07:58:55Z")
I beat you to it. > **[Greg Ham, ex-Men At Work saxophonist and flute player, found dead.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648917)** > > 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... ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/7 "2012-04-20T13:44:11Z")
Merged duplicate threads. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/8 "2012-04-20T14:34:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/9 "2012-04-20T17:51:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/10 "2012-04-20T18:12:40Z")
According to [Billboard](http://www.billboard.com/news/greg-ham-no-foul-play-in-death-of-men-at-1006826152.story), 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. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/11 "2012-04-20T18:17:30Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > According to [Billboard](http://www.billboard.com/news/greg-ham-no-foul-play-in-death-of-men-at-1006826152.story), 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? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/12 "2012-04-20T19:19:00Z")
> [@K364](#): > > all assumed the old song was in the Public Domain Paramount made the same mistake about [Professor Moriarty](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Elementary,_Dear_Data_%28episode%29#Reception_and_aftermath). ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greg-ham-ex-men-at-work-saxophonist-and-flute-player-found-dead/619293/13 "2012-04-21T05:26:28Z")
According to local reports here in Melbourne, he overdosed on heroin. Whether it was accidental or deliberate is another question.