Angry Anderson dies aged 79: Rose Tattoo frontman was a ferocious rock ’n’ roll singer and youth advocate

The singer, songwriter, actor and advocate, who has died following a cardiac arrest while touring in Europe, kept his band’s flame burning until the end

Angry Anderson has died aged 79, after he was hospitalised following a cardiac arrest while on tour in Germany with the band Rose Tattoo.

Gary Anderson was not a nice boy growing up. As one of the founding members of Melbourne motorcycle club the Vigilanties, he initially earned the sobriquet Mouse, on account of his diminutive stature. Determined to prove himself a man, he developed a penchant for taking on blokes twice his size. It earned him a new nickname: the Angry Ant.