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Tribute to Paul Hester 31.03.05 (Kayotix) close X Running Time Approximately: 8 minutes Playlist Order: [N/A] Crowded House drummer found dead Article/column by The Scotsman Alternative Site: bbc.co.uk Monday March 28, 2005 THE former drummer of the band Crowded House has hanged himself in an Australian park after taking his dogs for a final walk. The body of Paul Hester, 46, was found on Saturday. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances and friends were unaware that he had been depressed. Hester played drums for Split Enz before joining Crowded House, which was one of Australia’s most successful bands in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with international hits such as Don’t Dream It’s Over and Weather With You. Yesterday, his former bandmates were reeling from the tragedy. Neil Finn, the singer, said: "I am devastated. I have lost one of my best mates." Finn, who is touring Britain with his brother Tim, was due to do four dates at the Albert Hall in London, but may now fly to Melbourne to join Hester’s family and friends at the funeral. Hester quit Crowded House in 1994, but had reinvented himself as a café owner and freelance drummer. He lived in Elwood - a fashionable waterside suburb of Melbourne - with his girlfriend, Mardi Sommerfeld, and their two daughters, aged ten and eight. Peter Green, the president of the Crowded House fan club and a long-time friend, said: "I can’t imagine a sadder day than today. I feel for Paul’s little girls. We are still, all of us, asking, ‘Why?’" Mr Green said Hester, a joker on stage and off, had been in good spirits in recent times. "Paul had some dark moments - some good days and some bad days, like all of us," he said. He dismissed music industry speculation that Hester had been battling illness. "Paul never said anything about that and I never, ever, heard he was suffering from any illness," Mr Green said. "But then, after today, I wonder if anybody really knew anything." He added: "We have lost a mate. We have lost the heart and soul of Crowded House." Nick Seymour, the band’s bassist, met Hester in Dublin two weeks ago. "It was all good," Seymour said from the Irish capital yesterday. "The last words Paul told me were, ‘I love you, mate. See you in town [Melbourne] in a month’." Devastated fans around the world have posted messages of shock and sympathy on internet websites.

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