Biography
The Norwegian group A-HA is recognized as an icon of the musical electrical styles of the late 1980s - early 1990s. Educated in Oslo, the team became famous for the album "Hunting High and Low" and the "Take On Me" and "The Sun Always Shines On TV" singles, which had an incredible success of the Scandinavian, British and American public and high places in world charts .At times in the biography of the group, a creative crisis was occurring, and participants took a creative break, after which their discography was replenished with new plates, popular hits and colorful video clips.
The history of creation and composition
The history of the A-HA group began at the dawn of the 1970s, when adolescents Paul Vorvor and Magne Furukolman first took into the hands of musical instruments and began to execute popular songs of past years.
In 1976, the guys organized a team called Bridgees and replenished the composition of Viggo Bondi's unprofessions and Kestin Yevanord. At one of the concerts, the quartet met with a graduate of the theological faculty by Morten Harking, whose musical addiction was limited to the works of the British rock band Uriah Heep.
The young man had a pleasant vocal that was manifested in the years of participation in the Soldier Biue team, but Paul and Magne were not in a hurry with a proposal and limited to philosophical conversations with a new friend.
In the early 1980s, disagreements related to music and future careers arose among the participants of Bridges. Part of the composition satisfied performances in Norway, and the rest sought to fame and wanted to conquer London. It was then that Furukolman and the Foby remembered the abilities of the Harket, but he was not ready for moving and in the dispute of musicians retained neutrality.
After 2 years, a couple of comrades who failed in Britain returned to their homeland and finally persuaded Morten to become a leader and soloist. The new trio was collected in the house of the parents of the floor, perfectly with the playing game on the guitar, and recorded Demones under a brief and memorable name A-HA.
Having accumulated a sufficient amount of material, the musicians again went to London and after tedious searches and negotiations, interested Lionheart recording company employees. Morten with friends sincerely hoped for a big future, but limited funds did not allow to equip life and acquire a decent housing.
Convergently for several months in an uncomfortable old apartment, the musicians left the UK and decided not to return until they earn money.
Music
In Norway, A-HA found quite a decent studio and overwriting some songs brought from London. This material was interested in the owner of John Ratcliffe equipment, which, with the help of his own connections, took up the promotion of a non-known group to anyone.On the advice of a new acquaintance and agent, the HARket and the company once again reworked the compositions and at the end of 1983 submitted a ready version of the song "Take On ME" by a local label called Warner. At first, the future hit did not produce a global impression and underwent a thorough alteration and arrangement. From the 3rd time, musicians managed to achieve perfect sound, and the updated version appeared in the broadcasts of the country's radio stations.
Taking a leading position in the national charts, the Take On Me track went abroad and immediately after the premiere ranked 1st place in the charts 36 countries. The clip, filmed in an unconventional genre of cartoon graphics, also conquered the hearts of music lovers and still remains one of the masterpieces of the entertainment video industry.
In 1985, the release of the debut album "Hunting High and Low", which included such hits like "The Sun Always SHINES ON T.V.". She became another successful team single and won 2 nominations of the MTV musical award. The record itself was also awarded the awards of the famous American channel, provided a group of incredible popularity and became the best-selling product in 1986.
Satisfied musicians wanted to personally meet the public and went to the world tour, who gathered thousands of fans in America and Europe.
After the tour A-HA presented the 2nd Album "Scoundrel Days", which received hot reception and enthusiastic reviews of specialists and became one of the best samples of alternative rock late 1980s. Although the sales of the record did not correspond to the amount of predecessor, the group received a platinum certificate in some countries and an order for writing a musical theme to the next movie about James Bond.
Together, Morten, Magne and Paul composed the composition "The Living Daylights", which sounded in Bondian and entered the album "Stay On These Roads" in 1988. We sell more than 4.2 million copies, the musicians went on tour and made concerts in 74 cities, and later the leading songs from the record were entered into a permanent repertoire on the living performances of A-HA.
In the early 1990s, the group reached the peak of popularity and regularly collected stadiums during the international tour. At this time, the musicians fell into the Guinness Book of Records, realizing 198 thousand tickets to the show within the framework of the Rock In Rio II festival held at the Maracan Brazilian Stadium.
The most popular hit of the concert was the Caver-version of the song Brothers Eversley "Crying In The Rain", which received a new sound thanks to the strong vocal of the Harket and entered into the Album "East of the Sun, West Of The Moon".
In 1993, a plate of "Memorial Beach" came to replace the beautiful collection of hits, the record "Memorial Beach", which received reserved critics reviews and small sales volumes. The musicians were not accustomed to such admission played a couple of concerts at the closure of the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, and then announced a break and focused on solo projects.
Return to the world of music for A-HA was held in 1998 during a presentation at the event dedicated to the presentation of the Nobel Prize of the World. Then the group resumed work in the studio and in 2000 released the album "Minor Earth Major Sky" with the "Summer Moved ON", "Velvet" and "The Sun Never Shone That Day" compositions.
Despite the fact that the new work received several platinum certificates, the crown of the revival of A-HA was the Lifelines record of 2002. Immediately 5 songs were on the top lines of the charts, and the video clip shot by the director Jesser Hiro, surpassed the most courageous expectations of the public, critics and participants of the group.
In 2004, Harket, Vortor and Furukolman celebrated the 20th anniversary of the joint career and released the book "The Swing of Things" and a gift disk with an early demonstration material. Shortly after that, A-HA spoke in Berlin in front of the audience of 200 thousand people and performed the famous songs "Take On Me" and "Hunting High and Low".
Then, for the first time in 19 years, the group gave a concert in North America and released the albums "Analogue" and "Make Some Noise". The participants of the British Folk-Rock Collective Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and their voices benefited the sound of the tracks "Over The Treetops" and "Cosy Prisons" came to the musicians.
In the 2000s, A-HA received a prestigious Q Magazine Inspiration Award for the contribution to the music and award Sperlemann for hitting all the time "Take On Me", handed over to a large-scale concert in Oslo.
In 2011-2015, performers rested from collaboration, and then reunited for events dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Take On Me Composition, which made a multitude of recovery and popular remixes. Before the series of speeches, the Agent of the Group announced the intentions to reissue the first 5 albums on vinyl and the large set at the Rock In Rio festival in 2015.
Later, the information that Morten, Paul and Magne work over the new material was leaked in the press, and soon after that the public heard the composition from the album "Cast in Steel".
The promotion of the plate occurred live on the BBC Red Button Service and on BBC Radio 2, and then a unique concert with advanced scenography was held in Norway using a stereoscopic effect of virtual reality. This show watched hundreds of thousands of YouTube users, as well as the owners of iPhone and Android devices around the world.
In 2016, A-HA was pleased with the fans by a tour of the tour, in which he visited Russia and played concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow. A year later, the musicians confirmed rumors about an acoustic album and recorded the new version of the hit "Take On Me" for the youth film "Deadpool 2".
A-HA now
Now the musicians A-HA are preparing for the upcoming tour, which will begin in October 2019 in Ireland and continue in the UK, France, Germany and Russia.
The tour called Hunting High and Low Live is different from all previous performances by the fact that in the first half of the concert, the musicians will perform the popular hits of different years, and in the second they will play 10 songs from the debut album in the original order.
Tickets for the event are sold on the official website of the Norwegian team, and the photos of the posters and the track list A-HA published on the official page in Instagram.
Discography
- 1985 - Hunting High and Low
- 1986 - "SCOUNDREL DAYS"
- 1988 - "STAY ON THESE ROADS"
- 1990 - "East of the Sun, West Of The Moon"
- 1993 - "Memorial Beach"
- 2000 - "MINOR EART MAJOR SKY"
- 2002 - "Lifelines"
- 2005 - "Analogue"
- 2009 - "FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN"
- 2015 - "Cast in Steel"
- 2017 - "Summer Solstice" (MTV Unplugged)
Clips
- The Sun Always SHINES ON TV
- Lifelines.
- Crying In The Rain
- Take on Me.
- Stay On These Roads
- Hunting High and Low
- MINOR EART MAJOR SKY
- Summer Moved ON.
- Move to Memphis.
- Angel In The Snow
- THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS.
- Shapes That Go Together