A-ha frontman Morten Harket revealed Wednesday he has battled Parkinson’s disease for more than a year and has lost his desire to sing.
Harket, 65, said in a statement he has undergone several rounds of brain surgery and that he is managing the symptoms of the disease, which causes a loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine, a chemical needed for muscle control.
Parkinson’s can be treated with surgery and medication, but there is no cure. The condition typically worsens over time.
This reality has Harket believing his singing days may be over.
“I don’t feel like singing, and for me, that’s a sign,” he said in a lengthy Q&A on his band’s website. “I’m broad-minded 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.”
The Norwegian band, whose “Take On Me” track was one of the 1980s’ biggest hits, said in its statement that Harket’s singing was a physical challenge even before his diagnosis.
“In terms of Morten’s role as a stage personality and singer in a-ha, Parkinson’s is going to be a huge blow,” the statement said. “His singing technique demands a great deal of power, nuance, and technical control, and Paul and Magne have almost competed to write music that stretches Morten’s abilities to the limit. Delivering those goosebump-inducing moments in the vocals for ‘Take On Me,’ ‘Scoundrel Days,’ ‘Summer Moved On’ and ‘Stay On These Roads’ is almost as much a physical feat as it is an artistic one.”
Harket says he had “no problem accepting the diagnosis,” but struggled with whether he should make it public or not. The band’s statement said he ultimately decided to tell the world before it found out by spotting his symptoms.
“It used to bother me to think about my sickness becoming public knowledge,” he said. “In the long run, it bothers me more to have to protect something that is strictly a private matter by treating it as a secret.”
He has received treatment in Norway from Dr. Christina Sundal, who was previously a resident at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Harket has had two successful operations on his brain to implant electrodes—one in June 2024, and another in December. The statement did not say when Harket was first diagnosed, but said he has “been a man battling his own body” in “recent years.”
Harket, a father-of-five, asked the public, including his longtime friends, not to fill his inbox with advice on how to handle his condition.
“I’m going to get so many messages about what to do and how to deal with it,” he said. “Lots of suggestions for cures and whatnot, all from well-meaning people. I know there are many opinions and alternative theories, but I need to listen to the professionals I have available to me, who are taking care of this with me and for me, and who keep a close eye on developments in many areas of research taking place today. I won’t be able to process anything else.”
