Morten Harket, the lead singer of the Norwegian synth-pop band a-ha, best known for its 1985 hit single “Take on Me,” said Wednesday that he had Parkinson’s disease.
Harket, 65, revealed his illness in an interview with Jan Omdahl, a-ha’s biographer, on the band’s website. Harket did not say when he received the diagnosis.
“I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis,” he said. “With time I’ve taken to heart my 94-year-old father’s attitude to the way the organism gradually surrenders: ‘I use whatever works.’”
His announcement comes days after the 40th anniversary of the release of a-ha’s first album, “Hunting High and Low,” on June 1, 1985. The first single from the album, “Take on Me,” became a global hit that year, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States on the basis of the song’s infectious synthesizer hook and innovative video that mixed animation with live action.
In the interview, Harket said he took medicine to manage his symptoms. Last June, he traveled to the United States, where surgeons at the Mayo Clinic implanted, inside the left side of his brain, electrodes that receive electrical impulses from a small pacemaker-like device in his upper chest. He underwent the same procedure in December for the right side of his brain.
The treatment, known as deep brain simulation, is an established treatment for Parkinson’s. Omdahl writes that the treatment has helped keep Harket’s symptoms in check.
Still, problems with his voice “are one of many grounds for uncertainty about my creative future,” he said. The dopamine supplements that he takes affect his voice, but his underlying symptoms become more pronounced if he doesn’t take them, he said.
Parkinson’s is a progressive and incurable disease that affects the central nervous system and causes tremors, muscle stiffness, impaired balance and other symptoms. More than 10 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with Parkinson’s, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.
Harket, who has released six solo albums, said he has worked on songs in recent years.
A-ha formed in Oslo in 1982. Harket and his two bandmates, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen, spent their early days playing in London before they eventually landed a contract with Warner Bros.
Though a-ha is largely known as a one-hit wonder in the United States for “Take On Me,” its second single, “The Sun Always Shines on TV,” cracked the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1985. The band went on to sell millions of copies of its albums worldwide, and has performed before audiences in 38 countries. Its most recent studio album, “True North,” was issued in 2022.
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