Ron Strykert facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ron Strykert
Strykert in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Ronald Graham Strykert
Born	(1957-08-18) 18 August 1957 (age 67) Korumburra, Victoria, Australia
Genres	Pop, rock, new wave, acoustic
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, percussion
Years active	1978–present
Labels	Columbia Records Le Coq Musique
Associated acts	Men at Work

Ronald Graham Strykert (born 18 August 1957) is an Australian musician. He is best known for playing lead guitar, co-founding and composing songs with the 1980s band Men at Work.

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 in 1985, he decided to leave the group.

Compositions

Strykert composed and co-composed 13 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:

• 1983 United States Grammy Award for "Best New Artist"
• 1983 Canadian Juno Award for "International LP of the Year" for Business as Usual

Hay and Strykert received the following awards from APRA Awards for their composition "Down Under":

• 1985 Special Award
• No. 4 on the APRA Top 30 Australian songs list

Solo release

In 2003, Strykert released a solo debut titled Paradise on compact disc. It was released by independent label Le Coq Musique and contained the following tracks composed and produced by Strykert: