A-ha’s Morten Harket turns 64 today
A-ha scored charts worldwide in 1985 with their hit “Take On Me” and Morten Harket’s distinctive vocals been described as “the greatest falsetto in the history of pop music EVER…”
A-ha’s Morten Harket turns 64 today
Morten Harket was born on September 14th, 1959 in Kongsberg, Norway, he came to prominence during the mid 1980’s as the lead singer of the successful Pop band A-ha when they scored the top of the charts worldwide in 1985 with their hit “Take On Me”. The band had a string of hits during the decade including “Train Of Thought”, “Hunting High And Low”, “The Sun Always Shines On TV”, “You Are The One”, “Cry Wolf”, “Manhattan Skyline”, “I’ve Been Losing You” and “Stay On These Roads”. In 1987 they did the theme song for James Bond movie “The Living Daylights” which proved to be another hit song for the band. Despite all the achievements, towards the end of the decade they lost some popularity and ever since, they remained somehow active but without the same level of success as they had back in the 80’s. Their debut album “Hunting High And Low” from 1985, remains their best seller, it included some of the bands most memorable songs including “Take On Me” peaking at #15 on the Hot 100, praised by critics, the album made it possible for them to be the first ever Norwegian band nominated for a Grammy Award. The successful video for “Take On Me” won 6 MTV VMA’s in 1986 including Viewer’s Choice Award and Best New Artist. Morten’s distinctive vocal style lays heavily on his falsetto which some sources have claimed spans five octaves, NME’s Sylvia Patterson described it as “the greatest falsetto in the history of pop music EVER…”. Along with A-ha’s catchy Pop songs and the original vocal style, Morten also cultivated one of the most imitated and stylish 80’s fashion looks, with his unique hairstyle, shredded jeans and t-shirt, worn out tennis shoes and his multiple leather bracelets and necklace, an image that he dropped towards the end of the decade. Morten is still a very active musician and artist, though A-ha disbanded in 2010 they had gotten together several times after it and are currently on tour and releasing new material.
Look back at A-ha’s memorable video and song “Take On Me” from 1985
Listen to some of A-ha’s greatest songs compiled by Pop Expresso on Spotify
Watch more 1980’s related videos
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