Death of Men at Work flautist probed by police

Men at Work flautist Greg Ham has been found dead in his Melbourne home.

Two friends found the 58-year-old's body when they went to his Carlton North home yesterday after not hearing from him for a week.

Police are trying to determine the cause of death.

Homicide squad Detective Senior Sergeant Shane O'Connell said there were a number of unexplained aspects which led to police becoming involved.

"Because of the early stages of our investigation, we're not prepared to go into the exact details of what has occurred," he told reporters.

Ham lived alone.

Men at Work achieved international fame in the 1980s, but Ham feared he'd end up being remembered mostly for the copyright dispute over the famous flute riff in their smash hit Down Under.

A court in 2010 found the riff was unmistakeably the same as Kookaburra, a song penned by Toorak teacher Marion Sinclair more than 75 years ago for a Girl Guides competition.

The decision left Ham shattered.

"It has destroyed so much of my song," he told Fairfax at the time. "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."

Men at Work's recording company, EMI Songs Australia, and Down Under songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert were ordered to pay 5 per cent of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from future earnings.

Men at Work in October lost their final court bid to prove they did not steal the distinctive riff from the popular children's tune.

- AAP