Morten Harket, the principal singer of the Norwegian Synths-Pop group, A-HA, best known for his successful single from 1985 “Take on Me,” said Parkinson’s disease on Wednesday.
Harket, 65, revealed his illness in an interview With Jan Omdahl, the biographer of A-HA, on the group’s website. Harket did not say when he received the diagnosis.
“I have no problem accepting the diagnosis,” he said. “Over time, I took the attitude of my 94 -year -old father to heart to the way the body is gradually going:” I use everything that works. »»
His announcement comes from days After the 40th birthday From the release of A-HA’s first album, “Hunting High and Low”, on June 1, 1985. The first single of the album, “Take On Me”, became a worldwide success that year, reach n ° 1 On the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States on the basis of the hook synthesizer infection of song and innovative video that mixed animation with live action.
In the interview, Harket said he had taken medication to manage his symptoms. Last June, he went to the United States, where Mayo Clinic surgeons set up, inside the left side of his brain, electrodes that receive electrical pulses from a small device similar to a cardiac stimulator in the top of the chest. He underwent the same procedure in December for the right side of his brain.
Treatment, known as the deep brain simulation, is an established treatment For Parkinson. Omdahl writes that treatment has helped keep Harket’s symptoms under control.
However, problems with his voice “are one of the many reasons for uncertainty about my creative future,” he said. Dopamine supplements he takes affect his voice, but his underlying symptoms become more pronounced if he does not take them, he said.
Parkinson’s is a progressive and incurable disease that affects the central nervous system and causes tremors, muscle stiffness, alteration of balance and other symptoms. More than 10 million people worldwide are estimated to live with Parkinson, according to at the Parkinson Foundation.
Harket, who has released six solo albums, said he had worked on songs in recent years.
A-HA formed in Oslo in 1982. Harket and his two group comradesPaul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen, spent their debut in London before finishing a contract with Warner Bros.
Although A-HA is widely known as a wonder in the United States for “Take On Me”, its second single, “The sun is still on television”, ” Crack the top 20 From the Billboard Hot 100 tracks in 1985. The group then sold millions of copies of its albums around the world and played in front of the public in 38 countries. His latest studio album, “True North”, was published in 2022.
