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Morten Harket pictured performing in 2022. Alamy Stock Photo
Norway
A-ha frontman Morten Harket has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
The band’s most well-known hit is widely regarded as being ‘Take On Me’ from their 1985 debut album.
MORTEN HARKET, THE frontman of synth-pop band A-ha, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The 65-year-old’s diagnosis was announced in an article on the Norwegian band’s website, written by their biographer Jan Omdahl.
Omdahl said that he was asked to contribute the article to the band’s website revealing Harket’s condition after it was initially kept strictly private.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. It primarily affects movement but also impacts other bodily functions. There is no cure.
“It used to bother me to think about my sickness becoming public knowledge,” Harket is quoted as saying in the article. “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.”
A-ha was formed in 1982 with Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy alongside Harket.
The trio’s most well-known hit is widely regarded as being ‘Take On Me’ from their 1985 debut album.
Now a father of five and a grandfather, Harket said of his condition: “I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis. With time I’ve taken to heart my 94-year-old father’s attitude to the way the organism gradually surrenders: ‘I use whatever works’”.
He has already undergone two successful neurological procedures to minimise in symptoms in the last year.
When asked by Omdahl if he could “sing now at all”, Morten replied that he didn’t know.
““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.”
Harket said that he “won’t process” alternative theories and opinions from well-meaning individuals, saying that he is in the care of professionals.
To his fans, he said, “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.”
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