MORTEN HARKET Biography b. 1959 Biography a-ha Random Trivia & Chart Positions Search Site a-ha signed items at ebay.co.uk (direct link to signed items) As a child Morten Harket was influenced by classical music. He later discovered rock music when he heard bands like Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, and the legendary Jimi Hendrix. By the age of 16, Harket had formed Soldier Blue, among other bands. By 1981, Harket had run into Paul Waaktaar and Magne Furuholmen and in 1983 they formed a-ha. Harket's voice attracted the attention of the former Bridges members, who made him the lead singer of a-ha. After their first hit Take On Me took off, which went to number one in the US, the band became one of the best selling bands of the 80s. Wild Seed was released in 1995 and was for some years his only English speaking solo album. This album became the most successful album of the year in Norway, selling over 200,000 copies. A beautifully crafted album, Harket with the Norwegian Poet, Harvard Ram created much of the music and contributed to the lyrics. This was something he rarely did with a-ha. Wild Seed was all the more surprising by the fact that a-ha had never really let Harket explore his songwriting whilst they were active. It has to be said that to date the chief a-ha songwriter, Paul Waaktaar, has not delivered anything in his subsequent projects that compares to the quality found in Wild Seed. Outside Norway, the album fared less well. This has to be blamed on Harket's record company, Warner's, who did an appalling job in promoting it. In the UK, there was little radio play, the video for A Kind of Christmas Card rarely made it onto TV screens and in-depth reviews were hard to find. Consequently, the album made barely a flicker on the charts. Wild Seed was sandwiched between 2 solo albums that Harket did in the Norwegian language & released only in that territory. The first, Poetenes Evangelium, released in 1993 saw Harket using the lyrics written by Norwegian post-war authors. The second, Vogts Villa was released in 1996 but sold poorly in Norway (less than 20000 copies were sold) and achieved only a number 21 position at its highest in the Norwegian charts. Harket also recorded a single, Heaven's Not For Saints which he sung at the Eurovision Song Contest when acting as a compere in the late 90s. The year 2000 has seen Harket reform with a-ha and release a single, Summer Moved On and album, Minor Earth - Major Sky. The single, Summer Moved On, reached a high of only #33 in the UK charts in June of 2000; again the failure was solely the fault of Warner's and their lack of publicity. In September 2000, the boyband, A-1, reached #1 in the UK charts with their cover of the a-ha classic, Take on Me. This generated, in the UK at least, a resurgence in the bands back catalogue, and with the release of their new abum, Lifelines (2002), the band returned to UK shores for a sell out gig at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London and Wembley Arena. Harket lists his interests as drawing, painting, music, orchids and cars. Buy: buy: buy: buy: buy: buy: a-ha - minor earth major sky. a-ha - shop morten harket signed items at ebay.co.uk (direct link to signed items) a-ha Random Trivia & Chart Positions Search Site Top of Page |
