Heard some sad news today...

Crowded House mourn dead drummer
Date: 28/03/05
By Jonathon Moran and Jamie Duncan

Australia’s entertainment industry is in mourning for former Crowded House drummer Paul Hester who hanged himself in a Melbourne park.

The 46-year-old father-of-two was found dead at Elsternwick Park in Brighton on Saturday afternoon, after last being seen walking his two dogs on Friday evening.

Neil Finn, who formed Crowded House with Hester after they played together in Split Enz, spoke of his grief at losing one of his best friends.

Finn and his brother Tim have reportedly cancelled performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall to travel to Melbourne to be with friends.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of a close friend,” the former Crowded House frontman said from London.

Hester played in several Melbourne bands before Finn gave him his big break with Split Enz in 1983.

The pair formed Crowded House with bassist Nick Seymour in the mid-1980s and went on to notch up a string of hits in Australia and overseas, including Don’t Dream It’s Over and Something So Strong.

Music historian Glenn A Baker said Hester was a born entertainer.

“He was just one of those guys who filled a stage,” Baker said.

“He was an active musician. He was much admired. He was well liked and will be very, very sorely missed.”

Hester was known for his crazy on-stage antics but there have been suggestions the drummer struggled with depression.

Entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins said he enjoyed a working relationship with Hester, particularly during the Crowded House days.

“I was a big fan and liked him enormously,” Wilkins said.

“He was just a great guy and it would appear that he is another one of those witty, funny guys who obviously had some sort of equal and opposite depressed side that he was dealing with.”

Hester quit Crowded House in 1994, two years before the band broke up, reinventing himself as a drummer-for-hire in Melbourne and owner of an Elwood Beach tea-house.

He had his own music chat show, Hessie’s Shed, on ABC TV in the late 1990s, and was most recently the host of MusicMax Sessions on Foxtel.

He lived in the Melbourne suburb of Elwood with his girlfriend Mardi Somerfeld and their two daughters, aged eight and 10.

Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokeswoman Liraje Memishi said ambulance officers arrived at Elsternwick Park on Saturday afternoon, and reported Hester had “attempted suicide” and suffered “strangulation”.

It is believed his body was found hanging from a tree.

Ambulance officers declared Hester dead about 20 minutes after they reached the park.

Crowded House fans flooded websites to express their sadness.

“He is the one memory I have from skipping school when I was 15 to go to a soundcheck on the ’Enz with a Bang’ tour,” one fan wrote on the frenz.com website.

“The only thing I remember about that day is Paul, wearing pointy black suede boots, black jeans and a bright pink shirt, which he lifted to flash his stomach and chest at me.”

Another fan, Dean, said he felt as though he had lost a member of his own family.

“Feels like I lost a part of my family,” the Crowded House devotee said.

“I know the last few years of Crowded House were hard on him (Hester), but I figured everything since was going all right.”

Copyright © 2005 AAP