Article by A-ha

A-ha

a-ha is a Norwegian pop music band. The trio, composed of Morten Harket, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen formed in 1983, and left Norway for London in order to make a career in the music business. The origin of the name a-ha comes from the title of an early song. Originally, Paul had used the word 'a-ha' as the title of a song. 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.
"Take on Me", their debut single, was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1985 . Sales were aided in the US by a video on MTV that mimicked the climactic scene from the Ken Russell film Altered States. The video used a sketchy animation/live action combination that tells a fantasy thriller story to the song. In spite of the single's greater popularity in the US, the album, Hunting High And Low, sold better in the UK. Critics at the time mostly dismissed the band as bubblegum pop.
a-ha's second album was Scoundrel Days (1986), and represented a move towards alternative rock. 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 in 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).
a-ha split up in 1993, their members focusing on solo activities, but not until after coming together in 1994 to perform for the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, including their song composed for the Winter Paralympics, "Shapes That Go Together". After a very well-received one-off performance of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and a new song, "Summer Moved On", at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 1998, the threesome returned to the studio and recorded 2000's Minor Earth Major Sky, which resulted in a new tour, and a videocast performance of a-ha (with Briskeby) opening the new Vallhall stadium in Oslo. This album and 2002's Lifelines were both proof of the fact that their fanbase was still there and they were also able to attract new audiences, especially in Central Europe and Scandinavia, where the albums sold extremely well. They appeared again at the Nobel Peace Prize concert, in 2001.
A live album (from their 2002 tour) with the title How Can I Sleep With Your Voice in My Head was released in March of 2003, preceded by a live single of the 1986 classic "The Sun Always Shines on TV". In 2004, an in-depth book entitled The Swing Of Things was published, also featuring a CD of early demo material. In 2004, A-ha celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of a new singles collection: "The Singles: 1984-2004". Throughout their career, a-ha has officially released 32 singles. 13 of them became top ten singles in the UK, and 14 singles have been number one on the radio lists over the world. The new singles album includes some of the highlights from a-ha’s last 20 years. In 2005, the band is recording their next studio album for release later this year. Tour dates are scheduled for late 2005 for Europe and a return to the U.S. for the band's first concert on American soil since 1986 in September at Irving Plaza in New York City. They performed on July 2nd 2005 at the Live 8 Berlin concert.