Morten Harket

Morten Harket
Background information
Birth name	Morten Harket
Born	14 September 1959 (1959-09-14) (age 52) Kongsberg, Norway
Genres	Synthpop, New Wave, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, piano, drums, guitar
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Polydor, Warner Bros., KKV/BMG Norway
Associated acts	A-ha Souldier Blue

Morten Harket (born 14 September 1959) is a Norwegian musician, best known as the lead singer of the Norwegian synthpop/rock band A-ha, which released nine studio albums and topped the charts in several countries after their breakthrough hit "Take on Me" in 1985. A-ha disbanded in 2010. Harket has also released four solo albums. Before joining A-ha in 1982, Harket appeared on the Oslo club scene as the singer for blues outfit Souldier Blue.

Music career

A-ha

The trio, composed of lead vocalist Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (Pål Waaktaar until his marriage in 1991), 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 studio of musician, producer, and soon-to-be-manager, John Ratcliff, because it had a Space Invaders machine. John Ratcliff introduced the boys to his manager, Terry Slater, and, after a few meetings, A-ha had two managers. Terry Slater and John 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.^[1] The band says the name A-ha comes from a title Paul contemplated giving to a song; he was dithering between the title "A-ha" and "A-hem". Morten was looking through Paul's notebook, and came across the name, which he liked, and immediately decided that was the right name.^[2]

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.

Morten Harket performing at an A-ha concert, 2005

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 Foot of the Mountain was released in the summer 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.^[3] The note held exceeds the longest note in Bill Withers' famous 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 Dec 2010 sold out within 2 hours.

As a band member

Pål 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."^[4]

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."^[4]

Outside of A-ha

In 1993, Harket performed a cover of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Crewe/Gaudio on the Coneheads movie soundtrack in 1993.^[5] After A-ha went on a hiatus in 1994, Harket pursued a solo career, and has so far released four albums. Two of those albums were sung in Norwegian, but his 1995 album, Wild Seed, became more of an international success because of its English lyrics. Harket worked with Håvard Rem, a Norwegian poet, to write most of the songs. "A Kind of Christmas Card" and "Spanish Steps" were the most successful numbers. The rest were either easy, simple songs, or more profound ones, such as "East Timor" and "Brodsky Tune", which had political messages in them.^{[citation needed]}

Harket has collaborated in live performances and in studio recordings with several artists. Among them, Pakistani rock band Junoon on the song "Piya" , Hayley Westenra on "Children First". He has also worked with many other Scandinavian artists such as Bjørn Eidsvåg , Silje Nergaard , Oslo Gospel Choir, Espen Lind and Carola Häggkvist. On A-ha recordings, Morten has sung with Graham Nash and Anneli Drecker.

Harket released a new solo album, Letter from Egypt, on 28 May 2008 via Universal Records Germany.^[6] In 2009 Harket created and performed the main theme of A Name is a Name, a film about Macedonia by Sigurjon Einarsson.^[7]

Other appearances

In addition to the numerous A-ha and solo concerts, Harket has also performed on various other shows & concerts as solo artist and with A-ha. Some notable ones:

• UNICEF Benefit Concert (2005) – Sang the official UNICEF song "Children First" at the H.C. Andersen jubilee in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005.^[8] The song is a duet and was sung with Hayley Westenra.^[9]
• Eurovision Song Contest 1996 (as host of the show)
• He appeared at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert 1998 and 2001 with A-ha, and at the 1996 and 2007 concerts as a solo artist

TOUR

In 2012 - Tour in Europe, America (Brazil) and Asia

Vocal range and style

Morten Harket is known for his extraordinary vocal range, which some sources have claimed spans five octaves,^[10][11] although Harket himself said in 2009, “I’ve never counted, quite honestly”.^[12] His voice is capable of "The greatest falsetto in the history of pop music EVER..." according to NME's Sylvia Patterson,^[13] to an "unyielding groan" as described in Entertainment Weekly.^[14] Sound engineer Gerry Kitchingham, who worked with A-ha on "Take On Me", described Harket as "an excellent singer" with "this incredibly strong falsetto and almost choir-boyish clarity".^[15]

Personal life

The son of Henny and Reidar Harket, and brother to Gunvald, Håkon, Ingunn and Kjetil, Morten grew up in Asker. Early musical influences included Uriah Heep, Queen, Johnny Cash, Toto, Elton John, David Bowie, and Peter Gabriel. Harket's family runs a successful bakery business, the only one in Norway specialising in "Scotch Pies".

Harket has three children with his ex-wife Camilla Malmquist Harket, to whom he was married between 11 February 1989 and 1998: Jakob Oscar Martinus Malmquist Harket (b. 14 May 1989), Jonathan Henning Adler Malmquist Harket (b. 30 December 1990), and Anna Katharina Tomine Malmquist Harket (b. 14 April 1993, uses Tomine as her first name). Harket also has a daughter, Henny, in 2003, with then-girlfriend Anne Mette Undlien. Harket had another daughter, Karmen Poppy, born in 2008, with Inez Andersson.^[12]

In the mid 1980s, Harket was in a relationship with the British model Therese "Bunty" Bailey, who appeared in videos for two of the band's songs.

Discography

See also: A-ha discography

Albums

Year	Title	Label
1993	Poetenes Evangelium	KKV
1995	Wild Seed	Warner Bros. Records
1996	Vogts Villa	Warner Music Group
2008	Letter from Egypt	Polydor

Singles

Year	Title
1995	"A Kind of Christmas Card"
1996	"Spanish Steps"
	"Los Angeles"
	"Heaven's Not For Saints"
	"Tilbake Til Livet"
	"Herre I Drømmen"
1999	"Jungle of Beliefs"
	"A Jester In Our Town"
2007	"Movies"
2008	"Darkspace"

Filmography

• 1988 Kamilla og tyven (en. Kamilla and the Thief) as Christoffer
• 2009 Yohan: The Child Wanderer^[16] as Yussuf
• 2010 The Armstrong and Miller Show – cameo as himself.^[17]

Awards

See also: List of A-ha awards and List of Morten Harket awards

See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

References

1. ^ "The Story So Far... Chapter 10". Official Community of A-ha. http://www.A-ha.com/ABOUT/AHA_fullStory.aspx?PostID=158. Retrieved 16 March 2011. 
2. ^ The Story So Far... Chapter 3. Official Community of A-ha
3. ^ Everyhit.com: Longest vocal note in a hit single
4. ^ ^{a b} Band website
5. ^ IMDB Movie Listing for Morten Harket
6. ^ Solo album for Morten Harket
7. ^ A name is name
8. ^ "News". HayleyWestenra.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060305002348/http://www.hayleywestenra.com/hayley-westenra-news.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-13. 
9. ^ Diaz, Mario (3 April 2005). "World Premiere of UNICEF song". UNICEF.org. http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/denmark_25858.html. Retrieved 2006-12-13. 
10. ^ Omdahl, Jan (2004). The Swing of Things. Oslo Press. p. 340. ISBN 8275471818. 
11. ^ Keyboard Player magazine, September 2009, issue 340.
12. ^ ^{a b} Potton, Ed (18 July 2009). "Guest List: The pop singer Morten Harket". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6709027.ece. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
13. ^ Patterson, Sylvia (12 February 2000). "A-ha : Summer moved on". New Musical Express. UK: IPC Media. http://www.nme.com/reviews/A-ha/3731. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
14. ^ Eddy, Chuck (18 January 1991). "Music Review: East of the Sun, West of the Moon". Entertainment Weekly (Time Inc.). http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,313013,00.html. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
15. ^ Buskin, Richard (March 2011). "Classic Tracks: A-ha - Take On Me". Sound On Sound magazine. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar11/articles/classic-tracks-0311.htm. Retrieved 20 March 2011. 
16. ^ Morten Harket. Stjerne. Punktum. (Norwegian), massiv.no, June 2009
17. ^ [1]

External links

• Fan site
• Morten's official MySpace
• Site from Universal Germany
• A-ha's official site
• A-ha fan café
• English/French site dedicated to Morten Harket
• Media related to Morten Harket at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by Mary Kennedy

Eurovision Song Contest presenter (with Ingvild Bryn) 1996

Succeeded by Ronan Keating & Carrie Crowley

Persondata
Name	Harket, Morten
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	14 September 1959
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death