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

Gary “Angry” Anderson – who has died aged 79 after he was hospitalised following a cardiac arrest while on tour in Germany with the band Rose Tattoo, the balls-out band he fronted for 50 years – was not a nice boy growing up. As one of the founding members of Melbourne motorcycle club the Vigilanties, Gary Anderson 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. “Angry” – shortened for impact – suited him better. An accomplished rabble-rouser and ferocious rock’n’roll singer, Angry Anderson ended up channelling his energy into a variety of causes.