Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson (5 August 1947 – 21 September 2026) was an Australian rock singer, songwriter, television personality, actor, and political candidate. He was best known as the lead vocalist and the longest-tenured remaining member of the Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo from 1976. He was also a past member of rock bands Buster Brown and the Party Boys.
As a solo artist, he was 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.
Gary Stephen Anderson was born on 5 August 1947 in Melbourne, Victoria, to an Anglo-Australian father and Mauritian mother. He has a brother, Rodney, living in Melbourne. According to Ian McFarlane, Anderson's nickname of "Angry Ant" developed "during his youth after his aggressive and volatile nature got the better of him". According to Anderson, his father "was a deeply troubled man... I've dealt with my rage, my pain... I was a very angry boy... When he was around he was a very explosive person."
Anderson used his uncle Ivan as his role model: a cigarette-smoking, beer-drinking, leather jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding drummer in a swing band. Anderson grew up in suburban Coburg and attended Coburg Technical School before working as a fitter and turner in a factory. Initially he wanted to be a blues guitarist: "I wanted to be like all the great blues guitar players, then I wanted to be like Bob Dylan, then of course... John Lennon." Anderson found himself in a band with three possible guitarists and "[t]he other two were much better than me, so the only other thing we needed was a singer... [we] had to sing 'Twist and Shout' without accompaniment. I just happened to be the best one at it."
From 1971 to 1973, Anderson led rock group Peace Power and Purity, and came to wider public notice as the lead vocalist with Buster Brown. He fronted the hard rock and blues rock band from its foundation in 1973; the original line-up included Phil Rudd on drums, who left in 1974 to join AC/DC. In 1975, Buster Brown released an album, Something to Say, on Mushroom Records/Festival Records before disbanding in November that year.
In 1976 in Sydney, Rose Tattoo was formed by Peter Wells of the heavy metal band Buffalo. Anderson had relocated to Sydney and replaced the group's original singer, Tony Lake. When their drummer Michael Vandersluys departed soon afterwards, he was replaced by Dallas Royall, who had been Rudd's replacement in Buster Brown. Their most popular single on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart was "Bad Boy for Love" from 1977, which peaked at No. 19. Rose Tattoo's 1981 tour of Europe included an appearance at the Reading Festival, where Anderson repeatedly head-butted the amp stacks until his scalp started bleeding.
In 1983, Anderson's debut as an actor was a minor role in Bullamakanka. Later, he appeared as the character Ironbar Bassey in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Filmink magazine later wrote that Anderson "appeared in surprisingly few acting roles for someone with such renown as a presenter."
He joined as a guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins, for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"; it was a charity project for research on little penguins, which peaked at No. 10 in December 1985. In 1987, he played Lenin in the musical Rasputin, composed by David Tyyd, at the State Theatre in Sydney.
Anderson led Rose Tattoo through five studio albums until disbanding the group in 1987, by which time he was the only member remaining from the early line-up. During 1986, as Rose Tattoo was winding down following the recording of Beats from a Single Drum, Anderson joined The Party Boys for an Australian tour, but never recorded with them. By this time Anderson had established himself as an advocate on social issues and made regular appearances on the Channel Nine programs The Midday Show with Ray Martin and then A Current Affair as a human interest reporter.
In 1987, Anderson had his biggest hit, when the uncharacteristic ballad "Suddenly" from the album Beats from a Single Drum was used as the wedding theme for the Neighbours episode in which the popular characters Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell married. Robinson was portrayed by Jason Donovan, while Mitchell's character was portrayed by pop singer Kylie Minogue, who had issued her debut single in July as a cover version of "Locomotion." "Locomotion" was at number one on the Australian charts, preventing "Suddenly" from reaching the top spot. Beats from a Single Drum had been planned as Anderson's debut solo release, but it had initially been billed as a Rose Tattoo album due to contractual obligations. After the success of "Suddenly", it was re-released in 1988 as an Angry Anderson solo album. In November 1988, the single reached number three on the UK singles chart after the episode aired there.
With the dissolution of Rose Tattoo, Anderson pressed on with his solo career, releasing the album Blood from Stone in 1990, which provided the No. 11 hit single "Bound for Glory". He performed the song during half-time at the 1991 AFL Grand Final between Hawthorn and West Coast, after jumping out of a vehicle resembling the Batmobile. According to The Punch's Michael Phelan, Anderson's performance was "a teeth-gnashing, eyeballs-bleeding, nails-scratching-down-a-blackboard rendition" and rates it as the worst pre-game display in Australian sporting history. Fellow guest Robert de Castella believed Anderson struggled with Waverley Park's poor acoustics. 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." Also that year, Rose Tattoo reunited to support Guns N' Roses on the Australian leg of their Use Your Illusion Tour, Guns N' Roses specifically requested The Tatts to support them in Australia. However, the reunion was short-lived and the band's members returned to their solo projects.
From 1994, Anderson has used his contacts in the media to organise a Challenge where a particular charity's project was completed with support of community and business groups. Examples of these Challenges include constructing a playground for disabled children within 48 hours, assisting drought affected farmers with reserve feed for their stock, organising Christmas presents for socially and economically disadvantaged children, building two respite units for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS and delivering artificial limbs for Cambodian land mine victims.
Rose Tattoo reconvened in 1998 and undertook an Australian tour. The group has continued to perform despite five Rose Tattoo former band members dying of cancer: Dallas Royall (1991), Peter Wells (2006), Ian Rilen (2006), Lobby Loyde (2007) and Mick Cocks (2009). 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." On 16 August 2006, Rose Tattoo were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.