Morten Harket, the singer for A-Ha who rose to fame with the massive hit “Take on Me,” has revealed that he is grappling with Parkinson’s disease, and is not sure whether he will be able to perform publicly again.
The singer made the revelation in an interview published on A-Ha’s website in which he deals candidly with the effects of the disease. Harket says in the interview that he has had two brain surgeries to deal with staving off the effects on the body of the incurable condition. He held off for years in telling fans about the diagnosis, and only a few people in his close circle knew he was ill.
“It used to bother me to think about my sickness becoming public knowledge. In the long run it bothers me more to have to protect something that is strictly a private matter by treating it as a secret,” he told interviewer Jan Omdahl.
“Part of me wanted to reveal it,” Harket said, noting that “acknowledging the diagnosis wasn’t a problem for me; it’s my need for peace and quiet to work that has been stopping me. I’m trying the best I can to prevent my entire system from going into decline. It’s a difficult balancing act between taking the medication and managing its side effects. There’s so much to weigh up when you’re emulating the masterful way the body handles every complex movement, or social matters and invitations, or day-to-day life in general.”
While he is able to manage most daily functions at present, Harket says in the interview, “The problems with my voice are one of many grounds for uncertainty about my creative future.”
Asked if he can sing at all now, Harket answers: ““I don’t really know. I don’t feel like singing, and for me that’s a sign. I’m broadminded in terms of what I think works; I don’t expect to be able to achieve full technical control. The question is whether I can express myself with my voice. As things stand now, that’s out of the question. But I don’t know whether I’ll be able to manage it at some point in the future.”
The story says: “The simple fact that, on good days, Morten shows virtually no sign of many of the most familiar physical symptoms of Parkinson’s, doesn’t mean that he is well.”
The article says that Harket has been dealing with the condition through medication and through advanced brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic. In June 2024, he successfully underwent a neurosurgical procedure called deep brain stimulation (DBS) in which electrodes were implanted in the left side of his brain, connected to a pacemaker-like device; six months later, he had the same procedure on the right side, also successfully. The story uses the fact that Harket is able to drive while being interviewed as proof that these surgeries offered him relief in being able to regain strong motor functions.
A-Ha headlined the Hollywood Bowl on July 31, 2022 at the end of a summer tour, and no public performances by the band have been registered since then on the website Setlists,fm.
His attitude, as described in the story, is that he is trying to set aside his professional identity to get through the ordeals he is facing and concentrate more on what he is still able to accomplish.
““I was always meant to do different things, but I’ve ended up with a fairly permanent position as singer in a band. When I say that my identity isn’t about being a singer, that’s my direct response. It comes straight from the heart. People associate me with it, naturally enough, and I realize that. I see singing as my responsibility, and at certain moments I think it’s absolutely fantastic that I get to do it. But I’ve got other passions too, I have other things that are just as big a part of me, that are just as necessary and true.”
He is wary about some of the response he knows will come in from fans who want to be helpful. “I’m going to get so many messages about what to do and how to deal with it. Lots of suggestions for cures and whatnot, all from well-meaning people. I know there are many opinions and alternative theories, but I need to listen to the professionals I have available to me, who are taking care of this with me and for me, and who keep a close eye on developments in many areas of research taking place today. I won’t be able to process anything else.”
Asked what he would want to say to A-Ha fans now, Harket says, “Don’t worry about me. Find out who you want to be – a process that can be new each and every day. Be good servants of nature, the very basis of our existence, and care for the environment while it is still possible to do so. Spend your energy and effort addressing real problems, and know that I am being taken care of.”
Read the full article here
