Biography

Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under". Its founding member and frontman is Colin Hay, who performs on lead vocals and guitar.

After playing as an acoustic duo with Ron Strykert during 1978–79, Hay formed the group with Strykert playing bass guitar and Jerry Speiser on drums.

They were soon joined by Greg Ham on flute, saxophone, and keyboards and John Rees on bass guitar, with Strykert switching back to lead guitar. The group was managed by Russell Depeller, a friend of Hay, whom he met at La Trobe University. This line-up achieved national and international success during the early to mid 1980s.

In January 1983, they were the first Australian artists to have a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single on the United States Billboard charts: Business as Usual (released on 9 November 1981) and "Down Under" (1981), respectively.

With the same works, they achieved the distinction of a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single on the Australian, New Zealand, and United Kingdom charts. Their second album Cargo (2 May 1983) was also No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in New Zealand, No. 3 in the US, and No. 8 in the UK. Their third album Two Hearts (3 April 1985) reached the top 20 in Australia and top 50 in the US.

They won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1983, they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1994, and they have sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

In May 2001, "Down Under" was listed at No. 4 on the APRA Top 30 Australian songs and Business as Usual appeared in the book 100 Best Australian Albums (October 2010). In 1984, Speiser and Rees were asked to leave the group, leaving Hay, Ham and Strykert.