a-ha is a Grammy Award-nominated band from Norway. They were the best selling Norwegian band worldwide until 2007, now behind Dimmu Borgir, with a total of 40 million albums and singles sold (approximately sixteen times the entire Norwegian population). They rose to fame during the 1980s, but continued to be globally successful in the 1990s and 2000s. The trio, composed of lead vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (Pål Waaktaar until his marriage in 1994) and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, formed in 1982 and left Norway for London in order to make a career in the music business. They chose the studios of musician, producer and soon-to-be-manager John Ratcliff, because it had a Space Invaders machine.

Band members

• Morten Harket - Vocals (1982-94; 1998-present)
• Magne Furuholmen - Keyboards (1982-94; 1998-present)
• Paul Waaktaar-Savoy - Guitars (1982-94; 1998-present)

History

The origin of the name "a-ha" comes from the lyrics of an early song ("Nothing To It"). After checking dictionaries in several languages, they found out that "a-ha" was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive connotations. It was short, easy to say and unusual.

"Take on Me" and "Hunting High and Low"

" music video]]"Take on Me" was the first song Morten Harket heard Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy play. At that time the song was called "Lesson One." After multiple re-recordings and two failed releases, "Take on Me" became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1985. The first release of the song in 1984 was not a major success, but after a few songs were remixed by producer Alan Tarney a year later, it sold 1.5 million copies worldwide in one week. Eventually the single "Take on Me" was estimated to have sold 7-9 million copies worldwide; it peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number two in the UK Singles Chart. Sales were aided in the U.S. by a music video on MTV that mimicked the truck chase from Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil and the climactic scene from the Ken Russell film Altered States. The video used pencil-sketch animation / live action combination called "Rotoscoping" (in which the video is first shot on normal video, then each frame is hand-traced over to give the animated effect) that tells a fantasy thriller story to the song. At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards "Take on Me" won in six categories. It was also nominated for Best Video Of The Year at 1986 American Music Awards.

The follow-up single to "Take on Me" was "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.". In the U.S., the song peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number seventeen on Radio & Records airplay chart. In addition, the music video for the song won in two categories at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.

a-ha's American success culminated in their 1986 Grammy nomination in a coveted Best New Artist category which was eventually won by Sade.

"The Sun Always Shines on TV" turned out to be a-ha's last Billboard Top 40 single, and to this day in the United States a-ha is remembered by the general public almost entirely because of the singularly huge success of "Take on Me". As such, the band is frequently considered there as a one-hit wonder. In the UK (and much of the rest of the world), however, the story was very different: "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was an even bigger hit among British fans than "Take on Me", peaking at number one. In Australia, as in the UK, a-ha had continued success with "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and were consistently popular throughout the 1980s.

The 1985 album Hunting High and Low, containing "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV," was a worldwide bestseller. In the U.S., it sold more than a million copies and acquired platinum certification by RIAA. As of 2005, Hunting High and Low has sold 8 million copies worldwide.

a-ha made use of the very sophisticated Fairlight CMI and the synclavier in their production of their first album.

First phase (1986-1994)

a-ha's second album was Scoundrel Days (1986) and represented a move towards alternative rock as synthpop began to fall out of style. In 1987, they provided the title song for the James Bond film The Living Daylights. Stay on These Roads (1988) received more mixed reviews than the previous albums. In spite of a drastic decline in sales in the next few years, a-ha continued to record two more albums, East of the Sun, West of the Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993). East of the Sun, West of the Moon featured a cover version of The Everly Brothers 1963 single, "Crying in the Rain".

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a-ha were very popular in South America, especially Brazil. The band sold out some of the largest stadiums in the world. At the Rock in Rio II festival in January 1991, a-ha shocked the international entertainment press by gathering a paying audience of 198,000 people at Maracanã Stadium - a world record for paying audiences [1] . George Michael, Prince and Guns N' Roses managed to gather only sixty thousand each.

In February 1994, a-ha performed two concerts during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, followed by tours of South Africa and Norway. a-ha were also chosen to compose the official song for the Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer, entitled "Shapes That Go Together". Because of apparent internal conflicts between the band members and conflicts with the record label at the time, a-ha took a break in summer 1994 and the members started focusing on solo projects.

Solo careers

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy has released five albums with his wife Lauren Savoy and their band Savoy.

Morten Harket has released three solo albums. Among them is Wild Seed which sold around 200,000 copies in Norway and half a million altogether. It is the best-selling a-ha solo project to date.

Magne Furuholmen has developed a reputation as a sculptor, painter, and has made music for films and television. In 2004, he released his first solo album proper, Past Perfect Future Tense, backed by members of Coldplay, who are big fans of a-ha. In recent times, he was commissioned by the Norwegian government to design a postage stamp.

Second phase (1998-present)

After a very well-received performance of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and a new song, "Summer Moved On", at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 1998, the band returned to the studio and recorded 2000's Minor Earth Major Sky, which resulted in a new tour, and a videocast performance of a-ha (with Briskeby) opening the new Vallhall stadium in Oslo. "a-ha on the net" in 2001 from Valhall, was the third most-viewed webcast concert ever as 3.6 million hits were recorded, half a million with an average viewing time of 28 minutes. The average viewing time was the longest for a webcast concert. Only webcasts by Madonna and Paul McCartney recorded more hits. Sales of this album and 2002's Lifelines showed that their fanbase was still there, and also that they were able to attract new audiences, especially in Central Europe and Scandinavia, where the albums sold extremely well. They appeared again at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 2001. a-ha's music video for the song, " I Wish I Cared " was the first fully web-based animated flash music video to be made available.

In 2001, the song "Velvet" was used in the film One Night at McCool's and also featured on the soundtrack. When the DVD version of the film was released, the music video was included as one of the special features. A live album (from their 2002 tour) with the title How Can I Sleep With Your Voice in My Head? was released in March of 2003, preceded by a live single of the 1986 classic "The Sun Always Shines on TV".

In 2004, an in-depth book entitled The Swing Of Things was published, also featuring a CD of early demo material. In 2004, a-ha celebrated their twentieth anniversary with the release of a new singles collection: The Definitive Singles Collection 1984-2004. This compilation brought them back into the UK Top 20 Album Charts, where they reached number thirteen. Over their career, a-ha have officially released 32 singles. 13 of these became top ten singles in the UK, and 14 singles have been number one on the radio lists over the world. The compilation included some of the highlights from a-ha?s last 20 years.

On July 2, 2005, a-ha performed at the Live 8 Berlin concert. Following music legend and former Beach Boy Brian Wilson, a-ha took the stage in Berlin in front of an audience of nearly 200,000 people. They started out with "Hunting High and Low," with the requisite audience participation near the end. "Take on Me" got the crowd moving really hard, however, Morten Harket had severe difficulties hearing himself and requested a two minutes break, which he used to comment on the cause of Live 8 and the "Long Walk to Justice". The intended two minute break became an almost seven minute break and the third song, "Summer Moved On", became the last of their set, although four songs had been rehearsed. a-ha's allotted time had run out and the organizers told them to leave the stage. Following the concert, Magne Furuholmen said that indeed they had had some technical difficulties. "That is normal in a festival this size. In the end, the audience wanted more when we left the stage, so hopefully we did our bit for the overall success of the event", he commented.

On September 12, a-ha returned to the U.S. (at Irving Plaza in New York City) for the band's first concert on American soil since 1986. A short impromptu performance of "Take on Me" occurred on September 11 in Times Square. On August 27, 2005, the band played a concert for 120,000 people in Frognerparken in Oslo, the largest concert ever in Norway.

On November 4, 2005, the band released its new studio album, Analogue. The first single "Celice" was released on October 4 in mainland Europe. Later that same month, a tour followed, with concerts in Brussels, France, Germany and the UK. While the first UK release of the track, "Analogue " followed in the UK, January 2006, giving a-ha its first top ten hit in the UK since 1988. More dates were added to the tour, including a gig at London's Shepherd's Bush on 2 February 2006, a TV special in Africa and a festival gig in Chile.

The third single in Europe (second in the UK) from the Analogue-album was the Magne Furuholmen penned "Cosy Prisons", already a live-staple in the band's set.

Their upcoming tour will take them to Norway, London,Berlin (IFA) and Russia. Despite the success of the Irving Plaza show the previous year, and much to the dismay of their United States fan base, the band have no Canadian or American dates scheduled, or even a domestic release of Analogue.

In 2006, a-ha recorded a cover of John Lennon's "#9 Dream" for Amnesty International. It was released in June 2007 on the album "Make Some Noise - The Amnesty International Campaign to save Darfur".

Fans in the United States and Canada are keeping their hopes up. There are plans for a new album to be released in spring of 2008, and a tour will likely follow. Many fans hope they will again tour the States.

On 30 October 2006 in London, a-ha received the prestigious Q Inspiration Award for its long contribution to music and for inspiring many of their younger colleagues in the business.

On 19 June 2007, a-ha revealed that the new Savoy album is finished, recorded and mastered. It is called Savoy Songbook Vol. 1, and will work as an introduction to the band outside Norway. The band had been in the studio and had recorded new versions of songs from the previous albums, as well as three brand new songs.

On 15 September 2007 a-ha played a free outdoor concert in Kiel, Germany. The band played on a floating stage in the harbour. This concert was streamed live on the internet via MSN.

Morten Harket has completed a new English language album due for release before the end of 2007. The band are now busy recording their new album.

Discography

a-ha has sold 81 million records (including singles) worldwide.

For a more detailed account on discography, see a-ha discography.

Studio albums

• Hunting High and Low (1985)
• Scoundrel Days (1986)
• Stay on These Roads (1988)
• East of the Sun, West of the Moon (1990)
• Memorial Beach (1993)
• Minor Earth Major Sky (2000)
• Lifelines (2002)
• Analogue (2005)

Miscellaneous

• a-ha made use of the very sophisticated Fairlight CMI and the synclavier in their production of their first albums.

• a-ha lead singer Morten Harket is responsible for the 1980s "ripped jeans" fashion trend. He was rushing to the stage in a 1985 performance where he ran past an amplifier and accidentally tore his jeans on the edge. He later stated "Oops! I didn't see that!". Then there were the jeans. a-ha grabbed their razor blades, and created the torn up jeans that became their trademark and a symbol of 1980s style. "We had jeans that were falling apart, and we only just took it from there" Paul remembers. Five years later he got into a quarrel with Madonna's brother, who claimed his sister had discovered ripped jeans. "But it was us." Paul insists. Twenty years later, torn jeans are the hottest item in the display windows of Dolce & Gabanna on West Broadway, a few hundred meters from Paul and Lauren's apartment. (Source: The Swing of Things, Jan Omdahl, Forlaget press 2004.: Page #202.)

• During the promotion of a-ha in the USA in the 1980s, the American media often compared Morten Harket's looks to the looks of a young Elvis Presley and James Dean.

• a-ha won eight MTV awards during the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. This was until then the most awards an artist/band had ever won in one night.

• In 1989, a-ha played in Rio de Janeiro at the Praça da Apoteose (the place where the Rio carnaval takes place annually). The organizers expected an audience of 40,000; however 100,000 showed up.

• Although the song is not featured on the fourth album, the title of the fourth album, East of the Sun, West of the Moon is taken from the 1935 song by Brooks Bowman of the Princeton Triangle Club, which became a jazz anthem.

• On the tour of South America in 1991, a-ha played for over three million people in under a month and twenty-five shows, in addition to their world record performance at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• In 1991, a-ha set a Guinness World Record by playing for the largest paying audience in the world: 198,000 people.

• a-ha's music video for the song "I Wish I Cared" has been widely reported as the first fully web-based animated flash music video to be made available, followed closely by Madonna. However, Duran Duran's "Someone Else, Not Me" actually achieved this accolade one full year earlier in 2000.

• In 1999, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy received an award: a-ha have been played 2,000,000 times on U.S. radio-stations.

• "a-ha on the net" in 2001 from Valhall in Oslo, Norway, was the third most-viewed webcast concert ever as 3.6 million hits were recorded, 500,000 with an average viewing time of 28 minutes. The average viewing time was the longest for a webcast concert. Only webcasts by Madonna and Paul McCartney recorded more hits. The webcast was made possible in connection with MSN, Mercedes-Benz, and Accenture.

• a-ha tours with a backing band. The current band includes the drummer Per Lindvall, who used to play drums in ABBA's backing band, and has toured with a-ha since 2000.

• In June 1991, the last episode of American TV series Twin Peaks (directed by David Lynch) aired for the first time. As a Lynch fan, Paul sent him a tape containing three to five songs. Amongst them was "Sycamore Leaves" from the album East of the Sun, West of the Moon. He sent them in the hope that Lynch might sometime direct an a-ha video. Lynch was too busy with Twin Peaks to work with a-ha. Nevertheless, Lynch used a song similar to "Sycamore Leaves" in the last episode (slightly changed, but with the same structure and called "Sycamore Trees") without credit to Paul.

• According to Paul in the official a-ha biography, The Swing of Things, whilst recording in Prince's Paisley Park studios, Mags scrawled the word 'Prince' in felt pen on a urinal in the men's washrooms, referring to Prince's incredibly small frame. Apparently, it was removed "impressively fast".

• a-ha has performed at two Nobel Peace Prize concerts. a-ha performed in 1998 and 2001. (Morten Harket has also performed solo once.) The 1998 performance was a-ha's comeback into the world of music, yet was controversially omitted from a programme of highlights from the concert televised in the UK.

• a-ha has worked together with a number of other artists such as Jevetta Steele, Graham Nash, The Everly Brothers, and Anneli Drecker.

• a-ha was featured in the ninth episode of the fourth season of the TV show Family Guy when one of the main characters, Chris Griffin, was pulled into a parody-version of the "Take on Me" video.

• In 1985 pop star Madonna, performed a Latin cover version of "Take On Me" on Saturday Night Live.

• The song "Take On Me" has been covered by more than twenty artists, including Kanye West and a host of Punk/Ska bands including Reel Big Fish, Cap'n Jazz, MxPx, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and The Misfits.

• Morten Harket was singing the James Bond inspired track "Spy Me At Noon" for Get Ready to be Boyzvoiced, a Norwegian mockumentary about a fictional boy band called Boyzvoice.

• During a-ha's US television appearances on American Bandstand, Soul Train and Solid Gold to promote "Take On Me", Gina Schock of the Go-Go's played the drums.

Commentary on a-ha

"Morten looked like Elvis Presley and had the operatic voice of Roy Orbison" (Jeff Ayeroff, Warner's marketing genius in 1985. Comment from 2005)

"...a-ha are some of the greatest unacknowledged geniuses of pop's past two decades." (The Guardian reviews a-ha's Royal Albert Hall concert in London, 2002)

"As a 12 year old, Hunting High and Low was always in my head, and a-ha still continues to be an important band to me." (Chris Martin, Coldplay)

"Everyone asks us who has inspired Coldplay, who we have stolen from, who we listened to when we grew up. Such questions remind you of what has formed you and had an impact on you. The first bands I loved were a-ha and James." (Chris Martin, Coldplay)

"I was in Amsterdam the other day and I put on the album Hunting High and Low. I remembered right there and then how much I loved that album. It's just unbelievable songwriting." (Chris Martin, Coldplay, 2005)

"Morten Harket has a fantastic voice and a-ha has been one of our favourite bands for many years. a-ha has a sort of Nordic sound." (Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys)

"They are definitely my favourites this summer. Their last CD (Minor Earth, Major Sky) is just fantastic, and how the vocalist sings!" (Sarah Brightman)

"a-ha was always kind of a misunderstood band in my ears. They were perceived as a teenage group for girls, but in reality a very creative band." (Adam Clayton, U2)

"When we heard U2's "Beautiful Day" for the first time, the part where Bono sings "Touch Me", we thought right away that that sounds like a-ha!" (Keane)

"I have always liked the band" (Leonard Cohen)

"That man got pipes." (Carl Perkins commenting on Morten Harket's voice)

"I met a-ha for the first time in Barbados, and got a very positive impression of them. Different personalities that strives together and creates something creative. I stands respect of what they do, and we got a good contact. When I and David Crosby played in Oslo earlier this winter, Morten appeard backstage after the concert. There we began to talk about the possibility of contributing with a little vocal, and now it's done. a-ha is a good band, and the song I did backing on is very good." (Graham Nash of The Hollies / Crosby Stills & Nash, from a 2005 interview. Nash will do some backing vocals on one of a-ha's new songs)

"It was so cool that they were there! a-ha was one of the bands that were really in the spotlight on MTV in the '80s. That's why it was really fun that they participated at Live 8." (Audioslave, 2005)

"I remember Morten Harket from my youth, me and my buddies thought he was cool. I've been aware of their comeback. It's good to see them again, the vocalist continues." (Liam Gallagher, Oasis, January 26, 2006)

"This is one of my absolute favourites of all time (Kanye West, singing "Take on Me", 2006 )

"a-ha are my favourite band ever Weebl(Comments taken from The Swing of Things, the official a-ha biography - on Press Forlag, and newspaper interviews in Norway and the UK)

• Morten Harket is actually a character in the English version of the mystery game 'Hotel Dusk' for the Nintendo DS.

"It was the way Morten Harket used to have different things on his wrists. I do it myself, still. He is the most disarming and beautiful man you'll ever meet." (Chris Martin, Coldplay)

Tours

• Hunting High and Low World Tour 1986 / 1987 (Europe / USA / Canada / Japan / Australia)
• Stay On These Roads Tour 1988 / 1989 (Europe / Japan / Brazil)
• Walk Under the Sun Dance Under the Moon Tour 1991 (South America incl. Brazil, Argentina and Chile)
• East of the Sun West of the Moon Tour 1991 (Europe)
• Memorial Beach Tour 1993 / 1994 (Europe / Russia / South Africa / Middle East)
• Minor Earth Major Sky Tour 2000 / 2001 (Japan / Europe / Russia)
• Lifelines Tour 2002 (Europe / Russia / Brazil)
• Mini Tour of Russia and Norway 2003 / 2004 (Russia / Norway)
• Analogue Tour 2005 / 2006 (Europe / USA / Chile / Senegal / Russia & Ukraine)

a-ha has toured in the following countries (1986 - 2007):

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.

See also

• Best selling music artists ? World's top-selling music artists chart.
• List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart

External links

• a-ha: Official website
• a-ha: Official UK music website
• A-ha Music Videos

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