Morten Harket, the frontman of the pop band a-ha, has Parkinson’s disease. “My creative future is uncertain,” the singer says Wednesday in an interview on the Norwegian band’s website.
The 65-year-old Harket underwent surgery in 2024 in which electrodes were implanted in his brain. Those electrodes can reduce certain motor symptoms, such as tremors.
The a-ha frontman says he has no trouble accepting the neurological condition. But due to the disease, Morten is experiencing problems with his voice, which “make his creative future uncertain.”
“The question is whether I can express myself with my voice. As it stands now, that is out of the question. But I don’t know if I will be able to do that in the future,” says the singer, who is known for his high notes in songs like Take On Me, Scoundrel Days, Summer Moved On and Stay On These Roads.
The pop idol previously had difficulty sharing his illness with the world. He has decided to do so because he finds it more difficult to have to treat the private matter as a secret. “Don’t worry about me,” is the message Harket has for his fans. “Know that I am being taken care of.”
A-ha consists of Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen in addition to Harket. The Norwegian band, which scored several hits in the eighties, made a comeback in 2015 after a break. The group’s last album, True North, was released in 2022.