Morten Harket
Morten Harket (born
September 14,
1959 in
Kongsberg) is the lead singer of the
Norwegian pop band
a-ha, who have released eight studio albums and topped the charts in several countries after their breakthrough hit Take On Me in 1985.
The son of Henny and Reidar Harket, and brother to Kjetil and Håkon, Morten grew up in
Asker. Early musical influences include
Uriah Heep,
Queen,
Johnny Cash,
David Bowie and
Peter Gabriel. Before joining a-ha in 1982, Harket appeared on the
Oslo club scene as the singer for
blues outfit Souldier Blue.
After a-ha took a break in 1994, Morten pursued a solo career, and has so far released three albums. Two of those albums were sung in Norwegian, but his 1995 album,
Wild Seed, became more of an International success because of its English lyrics. Morten worked with Håvard Rem, a Norwegian poet, to write most of the songs.
A Kind of Christmas Card and
Spanish Steps were the most successful numbers. The rest were either easy, simple songs, or more profound ones, like
East Timor, and
Brodsky Tune, which had messages in them.
Morten holds the record for the longest single note, for a man, in a song, having held a note for 20.2 seconds in a-ha's
2000 song
Summer Moved On. This overtook the previous record of 18 seconds held by
Bill Withers on the song
Lovely Day. The longest note held by a woman is 23 seconds by
Barbra Streisand in her
1979 album "Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments", song, "I Never Has Seen Snow". ( http://www.bjsmusic.com/)
Morten re-joined his colleagues in a-ha in 1998 to perform at the
Nobel Peace Prize concert. In 2005 a-ha released their 8th studio album.
Morten has three children with ex-wife Camilla Malmquist Harket (married 11 February 1989 - 1998); Jacob Oscar Martinus Malmquist Harket (b. May 14, 1989), Jonathan Henning Adler Malmquist Harket (b. December 30, 1990) and Anne Katharina Tomine Malmquist Harket (b. April 14, 1993, uses Tomine as her first name). Morten's ex-girlfriend Anne Mette Undlien gave birth to their first child, a daughter, named Henny in 2003. Morten is currently dating his Personal Assistant, Inez Andersson (2005-).
Albums
Poetenes Evangelium (
November 09,
1993)
Wild Seed (
September 04 1995) — includes
East Timor)
Vogts Villa (
November 25 1996)
Singles
A Kind of Christmas Card (
August 07,
1995)
Spanish Steps (
February 19 1996)
Los Angeles (
March 11 1996) — released only in Norway
Heaven's Not For Saints (
May 27 1996)
Tilbake Til Livet (
November 01,
1996) — released only in Norway as a radio promo
Herre I Drømmen (
December 24 1996) — released only in Norway as a radio promo
Jungle of Beliefs (March
1999) — released only in Sweden as a promo
A Jester In Our Town (
1999) — released only in Norway as a promo
Soundtrack Contributions
*The song
Kamilla & Tyven for the movie of the same name (
1989) (translates to Kamilla and the Thief).
*The song
Can't Take My Eyes off of You for the movie
Coneheads (
1993)
* The song " A Jester in Town " from the soundtrack for the film Sophie's World
Other appearances
*The official
Unicef song
Children First, sung live together with
New Zealand singer
Hayley Westenra, in
Copenhagen,
Denmark at the
HC Andersen Jubilee
2005. However, Morten does not sing on the official Unicef CD.
*Morten co-hosted the 1996
Eurovision Song Contest with Ingvild Bryn in Norway where he also performed
Heaven's Not For Saints during intermission.
Kamilla & Tyven (
1988) translates to Kamilla and the Thief.
Kamilla & Tyven II (
1989) translates to Kamilla and the Thief.
*Has an interest in
Orchids, sharks and Tropical fish.
*In a newsbit in
Side-Line Magazine the
Bel Canto frontwoman
Anneli Drecker says she added a Morten Harket song to her new solo album "Frolic".
*Political interests: Fighting for the rights and freedom of the people of
East Timor.
*Interested in the Environment and Clean Energy alternatives.
*Was offered a role as a villain's henchman in the
James Bond movie
The Living Daylights. He declined, due to time constraints and because the producers only wanted him in the movie because of his popularity and not for his acting skills. a-ha wrote and performed the title song for the movie.
*Briefly dated actress/model/dancer Bunty Bailey, who played "The Girl" in the video to a-ha's hit, "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV"
*On the popular
flash cartoon,
Weebl and Bob, Weebl says that Harket "makes me moist in my special places."
* Holds the world record for the longest note held in a song. The song is " Summer Moved On " from the a-ha album " Minor Earth Major Sky " Morten holds the note for 20, 2 seconds.
* He has a 5 octave voice
* Morten Harket was the originator of the ripped jeans trend.
* Morten Harket and one of his colleagues in a-ha, Magne Furuholmen, worked at a psychiatrical hospital in Oslo, Norway in the early eighties.
* Harket was one of three celebrities on the
Magic 105.4 radio
Mystery voices competition which lasted for five months ending on 29 June 2006. The successful listener won £98,400.
* He is strongly against abortion and pro-abortion issues, being a world-wide known pro-life activist.
* "Morten looked like Elvis Presley and had the operatic voice of Roy Orbison" (Jeff Ayeroff, Warner's marketing genius in 1985. ( Comment from in Interview with NRK - Norwegian Broadcasting, 2005 www.nrk.no)
* "Morten Harket has a fantastic voice and a-ha has been one of our favorite bands for many years. a-ha has a sort of Nordic sound." ( Neil Tennant, The Pet Shop Boys) ( Comment NRK - Norwegian Broadcasting www.nrk.no )
* "They are definitely my favourites this summer. Their last CD (Minor Earth, Major Sky) is just fantastic, and how the vocalist sings ( Morten Harket )!" (Sarah Brightman) ( Comment in Norwegian newspaper VG - www.vg.no - 2001 )
* "That man got pipes." (Carl Perkins commenting on Morten Harket's voice) ( Source: The Swing of Things official portrait book, written by Jan Omdahl )
* I remember Morten Harket from my youth, me and my buddies thought he was cool. I've been aware of their comeback. It's good to see them again, the vocalist continues. ( Liam Gallagher, Oasis - www-vg.no 26.01.2006 )
* "I met a-ha for the first time on Barbados, and got a very positive impression of them. Different personalities that strives together and creates something creative. I stands respect of what they do, and we got a good contact. When I and David Crosby played in Oslo earlier this winter, Morten appeared backstage after the concert. There we began to talk about the possibility of contributing with a little vocal, and now it's done. a-ha is a good band, and the song I did backing on is very good." (Graham Nash of The Hollies / Crosby Stills & Nash, from a 2005 interview. Nash did backing vocals on two of a-ha's songs on their Analogue album )
*
a-ha's official site*
a-ha's official "minor earth" forum*
Morten Harket fan community*
MadAboutMorten - UK fansite*
English and German fansite
