A-ha The trio, comprising lead vocalist Harket, guitarist
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (Pål Waaktaar until his marriage in 1994), and keyboardist
Magne Furuholmen, formed on 14 September 1982, and left Norway for London to make a career in the music business. They chose the studio of musician, producer, and soon-to-be-manager John Ratcliff, because it had a
Space Invaders machine. Ratcliff introduced the band to his manager, Terry Slater, and, after a few meetings, A-ha had two managers. Slater and Ratcliff together formed T.J. Management. Ratcliff dealt with all the technical and musical aspects; Slater was the international business manager and liaison to Warner Brothers' head office. In 1984, A-ha released their first single, "
Take On Me", which became a hit only on the third attempt in 1985, after it had been re-recorded and accompanied by a music video directed by
Steve Barron. The single's international success helped A-ha's debut album
Hunting High and Low to sell over 10 million copies worldwide. Their second studio album was
Scoundrel Days, followed by
Stay on These Roads and
East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The band then issued the commercially disappointing
Memorial Beach, after which the band went on hiatus. Harket re-joined his colleagues in A-ha in 1998 to perform at the
Nobel Peace Prize concert. Since 1998, A-ha has released four studio albums and several compilations. Their eighth studio album
Analogue was released in 2005, and became a big hit worldwide, achieving Platinum certification in the UK. The band's last studio album before their split,
Foot of the Mountain, was released in the spring of 2009. Harket held a note for 20.2 seconds in a-ha's 2000 song "
Summer Moved On", believed to be the longest note in UK chart history. The note held exceeds the
chest voice note in
Bill Withers' song "
Lovely Day" by 2.2 seconds. In October 2009, A-ha announced that they would disband after a farewell tour in 2010. Tickets for A-ha's final concert at the
Oslo Spektrum on 4 December 2010 sold out within two hours. On 27 September 2015, A-ha reunited for a huge crowd assembled at Rock in Rio 2015 festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which led to a reunion tour and the
Cast in Steel album. In June 2017, the band performed for
MTV Unplugged in their homeland. Subtitled as
Summer Solstice, This live album was released that October, and the acoustic version of "Take On Me" was made part of the soundtrack of the Hollywood movie
Deadpool 2.
Band members Paul Waaktaar-Savoy describes Harket as being "totally different from me." He recalls the band's first visit to London together, during which Harket burned all his clothes and re-fashioned his wardrobe. "He has given me self-confidence, encourages me to talk to people, not to be afraid and to use the abilities I have. Morten is actually the only one in Norway who had as much ambition as I did. I guess we both have big egos. In a way, we're each sitting in our own little world, while Mags is more down to earth. Mags often has to mediate between Morten and me... It's good that we're so different and still respect each other. The tension between us is creative." Magne Furuholmen describes Harket as "together". Furuholmen says Harket "believes strongly in everything he does. This goes for the band too, and it rubs off on us. He has the courage of his own convictions and cannot be shaken. He's an expert at always getting the last word, whether he's right or not. Morten is very loyal and he's fair when it comes to giving people a chance, letting them show who they are and what they're worth before judging them."
Outside A-ha , 2010 Before Morten joined Pål and Magne, he was the lead singer of a
soul band, Soldier Blue. In 1993, Harket performed a cover of "
Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Crewe/Gaudio on the
Coneheads movie soundtrack in 1993. After A-ha went on a hiatus in 1994, Harket pursued a solo career. He has released six studio albums. Harket released his solo album,
Letter from Egypt, on 28 May 2008 via Universal Records Germany. In April 2012, Harket released his new solo album,
Out of My Hands, in both Norway and Germany, and on 14 May in the UK. In April 2014, Harket released his sixth album,
Brother. He also composed a song with his cousin's son, Blade Whitehead, for an annual music night. Harket has collaborated in live performances and in studio recordings with several artists, among them
Pakistani rock band
Junoon, on the songs "Piya" and "Pyar Hai Zindagi"; and
Hayley Westenra, on "Children First". He has also performed and worked with many other Scandinavian artists, such as
Bjørn Eidsvåg,
Silje Nergaard,
Oslo Gospel Choir,
Espen Lind,
Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz and
Carola Häggkvist. In 2009, Harket created and performed the main theme of
A Name is a Name, a film about Macedonia by Sigurjon Einarsson.
Other appearances In addition to numerous
A-ha and solo concerts, Harket has also performed on various other shows and concerts both as a solo artist and with A-ha. Some notable ones: • Harket was the co-presenter of the
1996 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, Norway alongside TV presenter
Ingvild Bryn. • Harket and
Klaus Meine of the German band
Scorpions performed a duet version of the Scorpions' hit song
Wind of Change at a Scorpions concert in
Athens,
Greece, on 11 September 2013 for an MTV Unplugged album. •
Christina Aguilera and
Pitbull performed the song "
Feel This Moment", which contains sampling of A-ha's "
Take On Me", live at the
MGM Grand during the
2013 Billboard Music Awards with a surprise appearance from Morten Harket. • UNICEF Benefit Concert (2005) – Sang the official UNICEF song "Children First" at the H.C. Andersen jubilee in
Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005. The song is a duet and was sung with
Hayley Westenra. • He provided vocals to the
Jan Bang single "Merciful Waters" which appears on the group's debut 1989 album
Frozen Feelings. • In January 2021, Harket appeared on the
second series of the British version of
The Masked Singer, masked as the Viking. He became the first contestant on the franchise to perform their own song, when he sang "Take on Me" in episode five. He finished in seventh place. ==Vocal range and style==