Magne Furuholmen

Magne Furuholmen
Background information
Also known as	Mags, Magne F
Born	1 November 1962 (1962-11-01) (age 49) Oslo, Norway
Genres	Synthpop New Wave Alternative rock Indie rock
Occupations	Musician Artist Singer Songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals, Keyboard, Harmonica, Piano, Bass Guitar, Percussion
Labels	Passionfruit Polydor Records ZYX Records
Associated acts	A-ha, Timbersound, Apparatjik

Magne 'Mags' Furuholmen (born 1 November 1962) is a Norwegian musician. He is best known as the guitarist/keyboardist in the band A-ha.

Music career

A-ha

Furuholmen has been the keyboardist with A-ha since their formation in 1982, though he also plays guitar. He has co-written many of the band's hits with Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, including "Stay On These Roads", "Manhattan Skyline", and the band's first and biggest hit "Take On Me". When A-ha went on hiatus in 1994, Furuholmen began working on other music projects. The band reconvened in 2000, though announced they would split in 2010.

Solo projects and other works

Furuholmen's projects outside of A-ha include Timbersound, formed in 1994 with Kjetil Bjerkestrand, and later, Swedish singer, Freddie Wadling. Their work has been used on film soundtracks such as Ti Kniver I Hjertet (1994), "Hotel Oslo" (1997) which also featured vocals by Anneli Drecker, 1732 Høtten (1998) where the album Hermetic is featured.

Furuholmen also recorded "Past Perfect Future Tense" in 2004, with appearances from Guy Berryman and Will Champion of Coldplay, and from Andy Dunlop of the Scottish band Travis.

In 2008 Furuholmen collaborated with Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman and Mew vocalist Jonas Bjerre under the band name of Apparatjik for the theme to the BBC2 series, Amazon.^[1] The theme was made available (along with exclusive tracks from various other artists) on the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival.
In 2010 Apparatjik released their first album We Are Here, a digital album also available physically via their website.

Furuholmen is also an artist, working with glass, paint, etching and woodcuts. His art has been displayed at The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Oslo, and he has also shown his work at The London Art Fair. In 2001, Furuholmen was commissioned to design an official Norwegian postage stamp.

Magne announced on Jo Wileys show on BBC Radio 2 in October 2010 that he intends to work with his friends in MEW and Coldplay after retiring from A-ha in December. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vc5hn/Radio_2_In_Concert_aha/

Descriptions by the rest of A-ha

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy describes Furuholmen thus: "Mags is impulsive. Dashes around. Throughout the years, I've often wondered: Is he a complete fool or a genius? Does he have talent or doesn't he? He can say things which are really dumb, but then he'll suddenly switch on, put things in their place and come up with the idea that we've all been fumbling for. I think he's both a fool and a genius. There has, at times, been a tough competitive relationship between us, which has been a driving force for us both. I have always had great respect for him and believe in him as an artist and musician."^[2]

Morten Harket describes Furuholmen as "...ingeniously childish and childishly ingenious. He is talented, spontaneous and impulsive. He does everything recklessly and with so much energy. In contrast to Pål, Mags is totally disorganised and has no self-discipline at all. Of the three of us, he is the one who really knows how to live life to the full. Everything happens around Mags. Personally, I've learned an awful lot from being around him."^[3]

Personal life

Furuholmen's father is Kåre and mother is Annelise. He grew up in Manglerud, Oslo (along with A-ha colleague and co-writer Paul Waaktaar-Savoy). He has one sister, Line, and two half brothers, Thorstein and Trygve Christian. His father, a jazz musician who played trumpet with Bent Sølves Orkester, was killed in an aeroplane crash over Drammen, south of Oslo in 1967, when Magne was just five. Remarkably, this very accident was witnessed by a nine year old Morten Harket, thirteen years before the two were to meet for the first time.

Furuholmen married Heidi Rydjord, his high school sweetheart, on 8 August 1992, in the garden of their Nesøya home. They have two sons, Thomas Vincent (born 20 April 1990) and Filip Clemens (born 2 October 1993).

Furuholmen has also revealed in an interview published by Norway's third largest newspaper Dagbladet (in its additional magazine Magasinet) that he is suffering from a heart disease. The news was picked up the same day by the electronic music magazine Side-Line.

Discography

With A-ha

Year	Title	Label
1985	Hunting High and Low	Warner Bros. Records
1986	Scoundrel Days
1988	Stay on These Roads
1990	East of the Sun, West of the Moon
1993	Memorial Beach
2000	Minor Earth Major Sky
2002	Lifelines
2005	Analogue	Universal Music Group
2009	Foot of the Mountain

Solo

Year	Title	Label
2004	Past Perfect Future Tense	Passionfruit
2008	A Dot of Black in the Blue of Your Bliss	Genepool

With Apparatjik

Year	Title	Label
2010	We Are Here	Meta Merge Un Recordings

A-ha singles written or co-written by Furuholmen

• Take On Me
• Love Is Reason
• Cry Wolf
• Maybe, Maybe
• Manhattan Skyline
• Stay On These Roads
• Touchy!
• You Are The One
• I Call Your Name
• Early Morning
• Move to Memphis
• Shapes That Go Together
• Minor Earth, Major Sky
• I Wish I Cared
• Forever Not Yours
• Lifelines
• Celice
• Birthright
• Analogue (All I Want)
• Cosy Prisons
• Foot Of The Mountain

References

1. ^ "Coldplay and A-ha team up". Teletext. http://www.teletext.co.uk/planetsound/news/3374790848323d90a6c099afcc851183/Coldplay+and+A-ha+team+up.aspx. Retrieved 2008-08-22. 
2. ^ http://A-ha.com/the-band/the-story-so-far/
3. ^ http://A-ha.com/the-band/the-story-so-far/

External links

• Official Magne Furuholmen website
• Official Magne Furuholmen's art website
• Magne Furuholmen on Myspace
• Official A-ha website
• Magne F - Paul Stolper Gallery, London
• "Kunstverket Galleri" To view and buy Magne's artwork
• Official Apparatjik website
• Apparatjik on Myspace

Persondata
Name	Furuholmen, Magne
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 November 1962
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death