Men at Work flautist Greg Ham dead at 58

• Tweet

MELBOURNE, April 19 (UPI) -- Greg Ham, flautist for the Australian pop-reggae band Men at Work, has been found dead at his Melbourne home, police said. He was 58.

"Police have established a crime scene, and the local crime investigation unit is attempting to determine cause of death," the Melbourne Herald Sun quoted a police spokeswoman as saying Thursday.

"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," homicide squad Detective Senior Sgt. Shane O'Connell told reporters.

"At this point in time, because of the early stages of our investigation, we're not prepared to go into the exact details of what has occurred."

An autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of his death, which was discovered when an unidentified friend went to Ham's apartment because he couldn't get in touch with him, the detective said.

Men at Work was wrapped up in a copyright lawsuit for years regarding Ham's catchy flute riff from the 1980s hit, "Down Under." A court in 2010 decided it was the same as "Kookaburra," the music penned by a teacher more than 75 years ago for a Girl Guides competition.

"It has destroyed so much of my song," the Herald Sun reported Ham as saying at the time of the court decision. "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."

Ham also acted on the TV series "While You're Down There" and taught guitar at Carlton North Primary School in Melbourne.

He is survived by two children, the newspaper said.