Men at Work band member Greg Ham found dead

By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

Posted April 19, 2012

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In this Feb. 22, 1983 file photo, members of Men at Work, from left, Greg Ham, Ron Strykert, Colin Hay, Jerry Speiser and John Rees, pose with their Grammy for best new artist at the awards show in Los Angeles. (Credit: AP)

Greg Ham, a musician with the Australian band Men at Work, was found dead in his Melbourne home today.

Australian reports say two concerned friends who had not heard from Ham, 58, in some time found the body after going to check on him. AP reports that police declined to to release any details on how Ham died or if the circumstances were suspicious.

"There are a number of unexplained aspects to it which has caused our attendance here today, and we're assisting the local detectives to determine what has occurred," Detective Senior Sergeant Shane O'Connell told reporters.

Ham was perhaps best known for playing the famous flute riff in the band's smash 1980s hit Down Under. But the band was accused of stealing the catchy riff from the children's campfire song Kookaburra Sits in the Old GumTree and had to relinquish a portion of its royalties.

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."