a-ha

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A-ha

Background information
Origin Oslo, Norway
Genre(s) Synthpop
New Wave
Pop rock
Years active 1982–1994, 1998–present
Label(s) Warner Bros.
WEA
Polydor
Universal
Associated acts Savoy, Timbersound
Website http://www.A-ha.com/
Members
Morten Harket
Magne Furuholmen
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy

A-ha is a Grammy Award-nominated band from Norway. They are the best selling Norwegian band worldwide, with a total of 80 million albums and singles sold (approximately sixteen times the entire Norwegian population). They rose to fame during the 1980s, but continued to be globally successful in the 1990s and 2000s.

Contents

[edit] History

The trio, composed of lead vocalist Morten 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 studios 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. To deal with all the technical and musical aspects they have Ratcliff, and Slater's position is as the international business manager and liaison person for Warner Brothers' head office in Los Angeles. [1] The origin of the name "A-ha" comes from a title Paul contemplated giving to a song. He could not choose between the names A-ha and A-men. Morten was looking through Paul's notebook and came across the name A-ha. He liked it, and he said, "That's a great name. That's what we should call ourselves." After checking dictionaries in several languages, they found out that "A-ha" was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive connotations. It was short, easy to say and unusual. [2] [3]

[edit] "Take on Me" and "Hunting High and Low"

"Take on Me" was the first song Morten Harket heard Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar play in Asker. At that time the song was called "Lesson One", and the two men were still known as Bridges.[4] After multiple re-recordings and two releases, "Take on Me" became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1985 and was the second best-selling single in 1985. The first release of the song in 1984 was not a major success, but after a few songs were remixed by producer Alan Tarney a year later, it sold 1.5 million copies worldwide in one week. Eventually the single "Take on Me" was estimated to have sold 7-9 million copies worldwide; it peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number two in the UK Singles Chart. Sales were aided in the U.S. by a music video on MTV that may have been inspired by the truck chase scene from Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil, and the climactic scene from the Ken Russell film Altered States.
The video used a pencil-sketch animation / live action combination called Rotoscoping (where individual frames of video are drawn over or colored).[5] At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards "Take on Me" won in six categories. It was also nominated for Best Video Of The Year at the 1986 American Music Awards. The A-ha's second single was "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.". In the U.S., the song peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number seventeen on Radio & Records airplay chart. In addition, the music video for the song won in two categories at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. A-ha's American success culminated in their 1986 Grammy nomination in a coveted Best New Artist category which was eventually won by Sade. "The Sun Always Shines on TV" turned out to be A-ha's last Billboard Top 40 single, and to this day in the United States A-ha is remembered by the general public almost entirely because of the singularly huge success of "Take on Me". As such, the band is frequently considered there as a one-hit wonder. In the UK (and much of the rest of the world), however, the story was very different: "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was an even bigger hit among British fans than "Take on Me", peaking at number one. In Australia, as in the UK, A-ha had continued success with "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and were consistently popular throughout the 1980s. The 1985 album Hunting High and Low, containing "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV," was a worldwide bestseller. In the U.S. it sold more than a million copies and acquired platinum certification by RIAA. As of 2005, Hunting High and Low has sold 10 million copies worldwide.

[edit] First phase (1986-1994)

A-ha's second album was Scoundrel Days (1986) and represented a move towards alternative rock as synthpop began to fall out of style. A-ha won eight MTV awards in 1986.[6] In 1987, they provided the title song for the James Bond film The Living Daylights. Stay on These Roads (1988) received more mixed reviews than the previous albums. In spite of a drastic decline in sales throughout the next few years, A-ha continued to record two more albums; East of the Sun, West of the Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993). East of the Sun, West of the Moon featured a cover version of The Everly Brothers 1963 single, "Crying in the Rain". In the late 1980s and early 1990s, A-ha were very popular in South America, especially in Brazil. The band sold out some of the largest stadiums in the world. At the Rock in Rio II festival in January 1991, A-ha shocked the international entertainment press by gathering a paying audience of 198,000 people at Maracanã Stadium - a Guinness World Record for paying audiences [1]. George Michael, Prince and Guns N' Roses managed to gather only sixty thousand each. In February 1994, A-ha performed two concerts during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, followed by tours of South Africa and Norway. A-ha were also chosen to compose the official song for the Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer, entitled "Shapes That Go Together". Because of apparent internal conflicts between the band members and conflicts with the record label at the time, A-ha took a break in summer 1994 and the members started focusing on solo projects.

[edit] Solo careers

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy has released five albums with the band Savoy which also includes Lauren Savoy, his wife. Savoy is an indie style band on the Universal Records Norway label.[7]


Morten Harket began his career singing in the professional band Souldier Blue. After just 2 months of rehearsing with Souldier Blue, in February 1982, he was on stage in front of an audience. [8] After joining A-ha, Morten has released three solo albums. Among them is Wild Seed which sold around 200,000 copies in Norway and half a million altogether. It is the best-selling A-ha solo project to date. Because of Morten, A-ha holds the record for the longest vocal note ever in a hit song. In 'Summer Moved On' Morten holds a note for around 30 seconds. He still holds the same note in most live performances for which he always gets cheers and applause.


Magne Furuholmen has developed a reputation as a sculptor, painter, and has made music for films and television. In 2004, he released his first solo album proper, Past Perfect Future Tense, backed by members of Coldplay, who are big fans of A-ha. In recent times, he was commissioned by the Norwegian government to design a postage stamp. [9]

[edit] Second phase (1998-Present)

After a performance of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and "Summer Moved On", at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 1998, the band returned to the studio and recorded 2000's Minor Earth Major Sky, which resulted in a tour, and a webcast performance of the band opening the new Vallhall stadium in Oslo. The 1998 performance at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert was A-ha's comeback into the world of music, yet was controversially omitted from a programme of highlights from the concert televised in the UK. The webcast was the third most-viewed webcast concert ever with 3.6 million hits, along with the longest average viewing time, 28 minutes. Only webcasts by Madonna and Paul McCartney recorded more hits. A-ha's video for "I Wish I Cared" was the first fully web-based animated flash music video to be made available. A-ha appeared at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert for a second time in 2001. In 2001, the song "Velvet" was used in the film One Night at McCool's and also featured on the soundtrack. A live album from their 2002 tour titled How Can I Sleep with Your Voice in My Head was released in March of 2003, preceded by a live single of the 1986 song "The Sun Always Shines on TV". In 2004, a book entitled The Swing of Things was published, also featuring a CD of early demo material. That year A-ha celebrated their twentieth anniversary with the release of a new singles collection: The Definitive Singles Collection 1984-2004. This compilation brought them back into the UK Top 20 Album Charts, where they reached number thirteen. Over their career, A-ha have officially released 32 singles. 13 of these became top ten singles in the UK, and 14 singles have been number one on the radio lists over the world.[citation needed] On July 2, 2005, A-ha performed at the Berlin edition of Live 8 in front of an audience of nearly 200,000 people. They began with "Hunting High and Low," followed by "Take on Me", however Morten Harket had difficulties hearing himself and requested a two minutes break, which he used to comment on the cause of Live 8. The intended two minute break became an almost seven minute break and the third song, "Summer Moved On", became the last of their set. Although four songs had been rehearsed, the band's time had run out and the organizers told them to leave the stage. On September 12, 2005 A-ha played a show at Irving Plaza in New York City, the band's first concert in North America since 1986. The band has not returned to North America since, nor have they released anything there since 1993. On August 27, 2005, the band played a concert for 120,000 people in Frognerparken in Oslo, the largest concert ever in Norway. On November 4, 2005, the band released its new album, Analogue. The UK release of "Analogue (All I Want)" gave A-ha their first top ten hit in the UK since 1988. Dates included a gig at London's Shepherd's Bush on 2 February 2006, and a TV special in Africa. In 2006, A-ha recorded a cover of John Lennon's "#9 Dream" for Amnesty International. It was released in June 2007 on the album Make Some Noise. On 30 October 2006 in London, A-ha received the prestigious Q Magazine Inspiration Award for its long contribution to music and for inspiring many of their younger colleagues in the business. On 15 September 2007 A-ha played a free outdoor concert in Kiel, Germany. The band played on a floating stage in the harbour. This concert was streamed live on the internet via MSN. Morten Harket has completed a new English language album, "Letters from Egypt", due for release on May 19, 2008 in Norway. Releases in the remaining Scandinavian countries are likely.

[edit] Discography

A-ha has sold 83 million records worldwide over the past 20 years.[10]

The following link will take you to a complete A-ha discography.

Main article: A-ha discography

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] Compilation albums

[edit] Live album

[edit] Demo tape

[edit] Tours

  • Hunting High and Low World Tour 1986 / 1987 (Europe / USA / Canada / Japan / Australia)
  • Stay On These Roads Tour 1988 / 1989 (Europe / Japan / Brazil)
  • Walk Under the Sun Dance Under the Moon Tour 1991 (South America incl. Brazil, Argentina and Chile)
  • East of the Sun West of the Moon Tour 1991 (Europe)
  • Memorial Beach Tour 1993 / 1994 (Europe / Russia / South Africa / Middle East)
  • Minor Earth Major Sky Tour 2000 / 2001 (Japan / Europe / Russia)
  • Lifelines Tour 2002 (Europe / Russia / Brazil)
  • Mini Tour of Russia and Norway 2003 / 2004 (Russia / Norway)
  • Analogue Tour 2005 / 2006 (Europe / USA / Chile / Senegal / Russia & Ukraine)


A-ha has toured in: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Story So Far... Chapter 10. Official Community of A-ha. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  2. ^ Origins of Band Names!. Heathen World. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  3. ^ The Story So Far... Chapter 3. Official Community of A-ha. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  4. ^ The Story So Far... Chapter 2. Official Community of A-ha. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  5. ^ Much Music Retro Video Spotlight. Much Music. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  6. ^ Hunting High And Low. Official Community of A-ha. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  7. ^ Savoy MySpace. MySpace. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  8. ^ The Story So Far... Chapter 5. Official Community of A-ha. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  9. ^ Magne Furuholmen, postage stamp artist. Official Community of A-ha. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  10. ^ Much Music Retro Video Spotlight. Much Music. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.

[edit] External links

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