Angry Anderson

Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson (born 5 August 1947) is an Australian rock singer, songwriter, television personality and actor, best known as the lead vocalist and the longest-tenured remaining member of Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976. He is also a past member of rock bands Buster Brown and the Party Boys.

As a solo artist, he is best known for his debut single "Suddenly" (1987), which achieved international success—peaking at number 2 on the Australian Music Report, number 31 on the Belgian Ultratop 50, number 11 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, number 3 on the Irish Singles Chart, number 69 on the Netherlands Singles Chart, and number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, respectively.

On Australia Day 26 January 1993, Anderson was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his role as a youth advocate. According to rock music historian Ian McFarlane, "over the course of a lengthy career, [the] gravel-throated vocalist ... has gone from attention-grabbing, rock'n'roll bad boy to all-round Australian media star." Rose Tattoo were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2006.

Biography

Gary Stephen Anderson

Anderson joined as a guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins, for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on little penguins, which peaked at No. 10 in December 1985. Anderson himself claimed that he could not hear himself over the engine noise of the "Batmobile".

In 1992, Anderson acted in the Australian arena-style revival of Jesus Christ Superstar as Herod. On Australia Day (26 January) 1993, Anderson was made a Member of the Order of Australia with the citation, "In recognition of service to the community, particularly as a youth advocate."

Anderson appeared in a guest role in the Australian movie Suite for Fleur (2011), as Silas, Fleur's father, a carpenter and furniture maker living in Byron Bay. In December, Anderson joined Doc Neeson ( The Angels), Mark Gable (The Choirboys), Buzz Bidstrup (The Angels), Phil Emmanuel and Matt Sorum (drummer for Guns N' Roses) on-stage to celebrate the opening of a Hard Rock Cafe in Darling Harbour. Later that year, Anderson scored a role in the motion picture Fat Pizza vs. Housos. The film was shown in Australian cinemas from 27 November 2014 onwards.

Political views In July 2007, Anderson was criticised by some after espousing his views on Muslim immigration to Australia when he told the Sydney Daily Telegraph:

In 2012, Anderson participated in the SBS doco-reality show Go Back to Where You Came From, in which six Australians, each with differing opinions on Australia's asylum seeker debate, were taken on a journey to which refugees have taken to reach Australia. At the outset of the series Anderson says that "boat people" who arrive in Australia illegally should be sent back to their countries of origin: "If you come here illegally, I don't care about your story, first thing you do is you turn around and go back."

Later in the series, after having met with refugees from Afghanistan who settled in Melbourne as well as visiting war-torn Kabul, Anderson softened his stand on the subject: "Now I've been here and spoken to people, I don't want to turn away refugees, I don't want to turn away people who need to be reunited with their families. I don't want that. Who would want that? I don't want people to go on suffering needlessly, when we can give them somewhere safe to be. But I don't want them to come to Australia in boats."

Again endorsed by the National Party in September 2014, this time in the New South Wales seat of Cessnock for the 2015 state election, Anderson withdrew his candidacy in February 2015, citing personal reasons.

In 2016, Anderson was endorsed as an Australian Liberty Alliance candidate for the Senate representing New South Wales at the 2016 federal election. The Australian Liberty Alliance is a right-wing group that opposes Muslim immigration to Australia.

Personal life In Angry Anderson's 1994 biography, Angry – Scarred for Life, the author Karen Dewey describes his life as "Sexually, physically and mentally abused he broke the brutal family pattern to become a besotted, devoted father of four."

Although he does not believe in an omniscient god, he attends the Baha'i temple regularly, saying: "the spirituality I have given myself over to is the divine."

In August 2026, Anderson was hospitalised following a cardiac arrest.

Discography

Rose Tattoo

Buster Brown

Solo albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions AUS Beats from a Single DrumReleased: 1987 Label: Mushroom Records (RML-53217) Format: CD, Cassette 35 Blood from StoneReleased: September 1990 Label: Mushroom Records (D 30252) Format: CD, Cassette 35

Singles

+ List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions and certifications Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album AUS BE UK "Suddenly" 1987 2 31 69 3 BPI: Gold Beats from a Single Drum "Bound for Glory" 1990 11 — — — Blood from Stone "Heaven" 102 — — — "I've Got to Rock (To Stay Alive)"(Saxon featuring Lemmy Kilmister, Angry Anderson and Andi Deris) 2007 — — — — Non-album single