Morten Harket (born 14 September 1959) is 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 1994), 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. 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.
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.
thumb|Morten Harket performing at an A-ha concert, 2005Harket 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. 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."
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."
Vocal range and style
Morten Harket is known for his extraordinary vocal range, which some sources have claimed spans five octaves, although Harket himself said in 2009, “I’ve never counted, quite honestly”. His voice is capable of "The greatest falsetto in the history of pop music EVER..." according to
''NME'''s Sylvia Patterson, to an "unyielding groan" as described in ''
Entertainment Weekly''.
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. 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.
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. 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 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. The song is a duet and was sung with Hayley Westenra.
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
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.
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
Albums
Singles
!Year
|
!Title
|
1995
|
"A Kind of Christmas Card"
|
|
"Spanish Steps"
|
"Los Angeles"
|
"Heaven's Not For Saints"
|
"Tilbake Til Livet"
|
"Herre I Drømmen"
|
|
"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'' as Yussuf
2010 ''
The Armstrong and Miller Show'' – cameo as himself.
Awards
See also
List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters
References
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
Category:1959 births
Category:Eurovision Song Contest presenters
Category:Living people
Category:A-ha members
Category:Norwegian male singers
Category:Norwegian pop singers
Category:Singers with a five octave vocal range
Category:People from Kongsberg
Category:People from Asker
Category:Norwegian multi-instrumentalists
Category:Spellemannprisen winners
da:Morten Harket
de:Morten Harket
et:Morten Harket
es:Morten Harket
eo:Morten Harket
fr:Morten Harket
ko:모튼 하켓
it:Morten Harket
nl:Morten Harket
ja:モートン・ハルケット
no:Morten Harket
nn:Morten Harket
pl:Morten Harket
pt:Morten Harket
ro:Morten Harket
ru:Харкет, Мортен
fi:Morten Harket
sv:Morten Harket
uk:Мортен Гаркет