Role Musician Name Ron Strykert | Years active 1978–present | |
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Born 18 August 1957 (age 67) ( 1957-08-18 ) Instruments Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, percussion Labels Columbia RecordsLe Coq Musique Genres Pop music, Rock music, New Wave, Acoustic music Albums Cargo, Business as Usual, Two Hearts | ||
Birth name Ronald Graham Strykert Music group Men At Work (1978 – 1985) | ||
Men at work s greg ham and ron strykert on american top 40 radio 5 8 83
Ronald "Ron" Graham Strykert (born 18 August 1957) is an Australian musician. He is most well known for playing lead guitar, providing vocals, co-founder and composing songs with the 1980s band Men at Work.
Contents
- Men at work s greg ham and ron strykert on american top 40 radio 5 8 83
- Men at Work Its a Mistake Live
- Career
- Compositions
- Release performance
- Awards
- Solo release
- References
Men at Work - It's a Mistake (Live)
Career
Strykert co-founded Men at Work with Colin Hay as an acoustic duo in 1978, regularly performing at the Cricketer's Arms Hotel in Richmond, Victoria. From 1979 to 1985 he provided guitar, vocals and bass guitar for that group. He contributed to all three Men at Work studio albums. He wrote or co-wrote many of their songs, including "Down Under" which appears on their first album Business as Usual. He sings lead vocals on "Settle Down My Boy", one of his self composed songs on their second album Cargo.
Strykert played bass guitar on the very first recordings of the early group in a stage musical called Riff Raff in 1979. When bassist John Rees was later added in 1980 to the band, he moved forward to lead guitarist. He developed a unique soaring style of playing which added a high amount of energy to their songs. His signature playing went from long sustained notes, to a rapid fire, staccato lead guitar style, with some similarities to bass technique, most often using a customised Yamaha SC-800 guitar with EMG S pickups. He would often duel with fellow guitarist Hay adding dimension to his presentation as well as blending strong backing vocals. He often weaved his guitar playing around the stylistic playing of Greg Ham on his keyboards, saxophone, clarinet and flute.
As a founding member of the group, Strykert was concerned when the group lost their rhythm section of Jerry Speiser and Rees. During the process of recording their Two Hearts album, he decided to leave the group in 1985.
Compositions
Strykert composed and co-composed thirteen songs for Men at Work:
Release performance
Strykert took part in 13 singles released by Men at Work. Nine of them charted. He took part in three albums released. All three charted.
Awards
Strykert with Men at Work won the following awards:
Hay and Strykert received the following awards from APRA Awards for their composition "Down Under":
Solo release
In 2003, Strykert released a solo debut titled Paradise on compact disc. It was released by an independent label Le Coq Musique and contained the following tracks composed and produced by Strykert: