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A-Ha - "Watch me tearing myself to pieces "

The band includes Morten Harket, vocals - Magne Furuholmen, keyboards - Paal Waaktaar, guitars

A-Ha most popular CDs and DVDs: Hunting High and Low, Lifelines, Headlines and Deadlines, Scoundrel Days

See their performance on stage
at Live 8 Germany
Buy the Live 8 Berlin DVD here

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Live 8 DVD set here
(4 Box set)

Set list:

Take On Me 4:40
Summer Moved On 8:31
Hunting High and Low 6:40

Discography:

	Singles
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	Hunting High and Low
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	Scoundrel Days
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	Lifelines
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A-Ha at Live 8

A-ha is a Norwegian pop music band. The trio, composed of lead vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, formed in 1983 and left Norway for London in order to make a career in the music business. The origin of the name A-ha comes from the title of an early song. Originally, Paul had used the word 'a-ha' as the title of a song. After checking dictionaries in several languages, they found out that 'a-ha' was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive connotations. It was short, easy to say and unusual.


Take On Me & Hunting High And Low

The song "Take On Me", was the first thing Morten Harket heard Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy play. Back then the song was called "Lesson One". "Take on Me", A-ha's debut single, was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1985. Sales were aided in the US by a video on MTV that mimicked the climactic scene from the Ken Russell film Altered States. The video used a sketchy animation / live action combination (called "Rotoscoping", in which the video is first shot on normal video, then each frame is hand-traced over to give the animated effect.) that tells a fantasy thriller story to the song. In 2005, it was parodied in an episode of a Family Guy cartoon where Chris is pulled into the pencil sketched world of the video with A-Ha singer, Morten Harket. The scene contains actual footage from the "Take On Me" video, but with Chris instead of "The Girl".

A-ha's first release of the song only sold 300 copies, but after a rework with producer Alan Tarney it sold 1.5 million copies worldwide in one month. Eventually the single "Take On Me" is estimated to have sold 6 - 7 million copies wordwide. A-ha was also nominated for Best Video for "Take On Me" at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1986.

In spite of the single's greater popularity in the US, the album Hunting High And Low, released in 1985, sold better in the UK. Critics at the time mostly dismissed A-ha as bubblegum pop. As of 2005, Hunting High and Low has sold 32 million copies worldwide. Reel Big Fish has remade the song "Take On Me" in 1998 for the Baseketball soundtrack.

Scoundrel Days & Afterwards

A-ha's second album was Scoundrel Days (1986) and represented a move towards alternative rock. In 1987, A-ha' provided the title song for the James Bond film The Living Daylights. Stay on These Roads (1988) received more mixed reviews than the previous albums. In spite of a drastic decline in sales in the next few years, a-ha continued to record two more albums, East of the Sun, West of the Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993).

In the late 80s and early 90s, a-ha was very popular in South America, especially Brazil. A-ha sold out some of the largest stadiums in the world. At the Rock in Rio festival in 1991, a-ha shocked the international entertainment press by gathering a paying audience of 200,000 people. George Michael, Prince and Guns N' Roses only managed to gather 60 000 each. a-ha holds the world record for the highest attendance for a paid venue.

A-ha split in 1993 and their members started focusing on solo activities, but came together in 1994 to perform for the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. This performance included their song composed for the Winter Paralympics, "Shapes That Go Together".

After a very well-received performance of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and a new song, "Summer Moved On", at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 1998, A-ha returned to the studio and recorded 2000's Minor Earth,Major Sky, which resulted in a new tour, and a videocast performance of a-ha (with Briskeby) opening the new Vallhall stadium in Oslo. Sales of this album and 2002's Lifelines showed that A-ha''s fanbase was still there, and also that they were able to attract new audiences, especially in Central Europe and Scandinavia, where the albums sold extremely well. A-ha' appeared again at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 2001. a-ha's music transcends age groups, with fans ranging from ages 12 to 55. The "average fan" is a 27 yr old single female, living in Germany, but a-ha has fans all over the world, and, unlike some of their peers, make sales both in English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries.

A live album (from their 2002 tour) with the title How Can I Sleep With Your Voice in My Head was released in March of 2003, preceded by a live single of the 1986 classic "The Sun Always Shines on TV". In 2004, an in-depth book entitled The Swing Of Things was published, also featuring a CD of early demo material. In 2004, A-ha celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of a new singles collection: The Singles: 1984-2004. This compilation brought them back into the UK Top 20 Album Charts, where A-ha reached No. 13. Over their career, a-ha have officially released 32 singles. 13 of these became top ten singles in the UK, and 14 singles have been number one on the radio lists over the world. The new singles album includes some of the highlights from a-ha's last 20 years. In 2005, the band is recording their next studio album for release later this year. Tour dates are scheduled for late 2005 in Europe, with a return to the U.S. (at Irving Plaza in New York City) planned for September for the band's first concert on American soil since 1986. They performed at the Live 8 Berlin concert on July 2nd 2005.

Each member of A-ha keep busy with their individual solo activities. Paul Waaktaar-Savoy has released 5 albums with his wife Lauren Savoy and their band Savoy. Morten Harket has released three solo albums, among them Wild Seed that sold 500.000 copies in Norway and is the best-selling a-ha solo project to date. Magne Furuholmen has grown a reputation as a sculpter, painter and has done music for films and television. In 2004 he released his first solo album proper, backed by members of Coldplay.

Today, A-ha is recognized by their peers as a serious band with impressive songwriting capabilities. Fans include: Coldplay, Keane, Pet Shop Boys, Sarah Brightman, Adam Clayton, Graham Nash and Leonard Cohen.

This article about A-Ha is posted under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from this Wikipedia article.

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