Born on September 14: Morten Harket, "Nothing in my house reminds me of what I do in life"

The charismatic leader of the group a-Ha was born in Norway in 1959.

Since childhood, he was interested in several forms of art, sometimes music, especially the piano, sometimes drawing. In an interview with a German media he reveals that he became aware of the beauty of his voice at the age of five, when, sitting in the back seat of the family car, he sang a Norwegian nursery rhyme. He remembers being surprised by the soaring of his voice, comforted by his father's admiring gaze. An extraordinary gift confirmed years later, since he holds the male record for holding the same note for the longest possible time: 20.2 seconds, stopwatch in hand and bailiff duly mandated to make the feat official! 

In 1982, he founded a-Ha with Magne Furuholmen and Pal Waaktaar. The name of the group was chosen in reference to one of the Doors' songs but also because it expresses joy and surprise, whatever the language. The trio quickly settled in Great Britain and devoted themselves to their first album, "Hunting High and Low". It was received with worldwide success, selling 11 million copies. The title "Take on Me" (1985) is particularly remembered, which continues to live on thanks to numerous covers, notably in the series "Glee", "Grey's Anatomy" or even in the "Simpsonz" and "South Park". Between 1985 and 1994, four albums completed the group's discography. A long break followed, after a few commercial failures and questioning. During this period, Morten Harket began a solo career, which initially included two albums in Norwegian but also a more international success with "Wild Seed" in 1995.

In 2000, the group got back together to the delight of their fans and the album releases followed one after the other, with among others, "Analogue" and "Lifelines". In 2008, Morten Harket released a new solo album, this time in English, "Letter from Egypt", on Universal, thirteen years after his first album.

In April 2012, he released his fifth album, entitled "Out Of My Hands" followed by "Brother". The father of five also accepted a jury position on the Norwegian "The Voice" in 2017. He later admitted that he had learned a lot from being a mentor to young singers.

a-Ha continues to arouse interest and fascination. A documentary about their story was presented on June 12, 2021 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. It takes us behind the scenes of their collaboration, which was often tumultuous and punctuated by numerous separations.

In 2022, he reunited with his two friends for the release of "True North", accompanied by a film of the same name, the images of which were captured in Bodo, a Norwegian town located 90km above the Arctic Circle.

Today, Morten Harket devotes himself, among other things, to environmental and climate causes, notably by participating in conferences on the subject.

He has not kept any of the awards or prizes won during his career. "Nothing in my house reminds me of what I do in life," he confides.

(MH with CMa - Photo: Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Morten Harket with a-Ha on stage at Forest-National in Brussels (Belgium) on November 23, 1986