Morten Harket, vocalist of Norwegian pop greats A-ha, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. He shared the news in a post on the band’s website, telling journalist and band biographer Jan Omdahl, “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.'”
“Part of me wanted to reveal it,” Harket continued. “Like I said, 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.”
Morten underwent a deep brain stimulation procedure on the left side of his brain in June of 2024, and had a similar procedure on the right side in December. He says it’s helped eliminate many of his physical symptoms, but that his voice continues to be a challenge. Asked if he can sing at all now, he says, “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.”
“I was always meant to do different things, but I’ve ended up with a fairly permanent position as singer in a band,” Harket continued to Omdahl. “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.”
“For a few years now I’ve been working on songs that I’ve got great belief in, and I feel the lyrics, especially, have something of a different aspect of me in them,” he added. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish them for release. Time will tell if they make it. I really like the idea of just going for it, as a Parkinson’s patient and an artist, with something completely outside the box. It’s all up to me, I just have to get this out of the way first.”
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