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Vale: Des “Animal” McKenna

Musician Desmond "Dezzy' McKenna, better known as drummer "Animal" on Hey Hey it's Saturday, has died.

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Musician Desmond “Dezzy’ McKenna, better known as drummer “Animal” on Hey Hey it’s Saturday, has died.

Friends posted a tribute on social media, noting he had passed away in Chaiyaphum province in Thailand, where he had been living since the mid 1990s.

He was a regular in the Hey Hey band alongside the likes of Red Symons, Wilbur Wilde, Daryl McKenzie, Peter McCutcheon, known for his killer beats and silent grimacing from behind a pair of sunglasses (and tossing himself into the GTV9 pool while using crutches).

Brother of producer Rick McKenna, he also performed as part of Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons and was billed as “Austral-Asia’s swinging-est, laziest, funniest, second quietest, third loudest, and 7th fastest drummer.”

Phil Rudd of AC/DC once described him as “a Solid Sitter” while US jazz trumpeter Nat Adderley once said, “Here we have a hard swinging drummer.”

McKenna also made fleeting appearances in The Pirate Movie, The Bit Part and the notorious Houseboat of Horror.

His death comes less than a week after the screening of the Hey Hey 50th anniversary special.

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  1. Very sad and very disappointed that Hey Hey it’s 50 didn’t even mention him in their special or show any footage of him. I had wondered what had happened to him, and now I unfortunately know. He was an awesome and funny member of the Hey Hey team. And that incident of him ‘tossing’ himself into the Channel 9 pool. (The tossing adjective perfect fodder for dickieknee) was absolute gold! RIP Animal.

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