A-ha

The title of this article is incorrect because of technical limitations. The correct title is a-ha.

a-ha is a Norwegian pop music band. The trio, composed of Morten Harket, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and 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 is rumoured to have been a favorite phrase of one of the band member's pet monkey. "Take on Me", their 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 that tells a fantasy thriller story to the song. In spite of the single's greater popularity in the US, the album, Hunting High And Low, sold better in the UK. Critics at the time mostly dismissed the band as bubblegum pop.

a-ha's second album was Scoundrel Days (1986), and represented a move towards alternative rock. In 1987, they 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).

a-ha split up in 1993, their members focusing on solo activities, but not until after coming together in 1994 to perform for the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, including their song composed for the Winter Paralympics, "Shapes That Go Together". After a very well-received one-off performance of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and a new song, "Summer Moved On", at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 1998, the threesome 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. This album and 2002's Lifelines were both proof of the fact that their fanbase was still there and they were also able to attract new audiences, especially in Central Europe and Scandinavia, where the albums sold extremely well. They appeared again at the Nobel Peace Prize concert, in 2001.

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". Throughout their career, a-ha has officially released 32 singles. 13 of them 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, plans are underway to start recording their next studio album later this year. The band is currently compiling new material, tour dates will be announced later.

Contents

1 Discography 1.1 Albums 1.2 Singles 1.3 EPs 1.4 Compilations 1.5 Live Albums 1.6 DVDs 2 See also 3 External link

Discography

Albums

• "Hunting High And Low" (October 28 1985); UK #2 US #17
• "Scoundrel Days" (October 06 1986); UK #2 US #139
• "Stay on These Roads" (May 03 1988); UK #2 US #148
• "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" (October 22 1990); #12 UK
• "Memorial Beach" (June 14 1993); #17 UK
• "Minor Earth Major Sky" (April 17 2000); #27 UK
• "a-ha Single Remixies" (November 08 2000) (released only in Japan)
• "Lifelines" (April 02 2002); #67 UK

Singles

• "Take On Me" (October 19 1984); #3 Norway (released only in Europe)
• "Love is Reason" (April 1985) (released only in Norway)
• "Take On Me" (April 05 1985)
• "Take On Me" (September 16 1985); #2 UK #1 US (same tracks as 2nd release, different cover)
• "The Sun Always Shines On T.V." (December 16 1985); #1 UK #20 US
• "Train Of Thought" (March 24 1986); #8 UK
• "Hunting High And Low" (June 02 1986); #5 UK
• "I've Been Losing You" (September 22 1986); #7 UK
• "Cry Wolf" (November 24 1986); #9 UK #50 US
• "Maybe Maybe" (released only in Bolivia)
• "Manhattan Skyline" (February 16 1987); #6 UK
• "The Living Daylights" (June 22 1987); #9 UK
• "Stay On These Roads" (February 14 1988); #6 UK
• "The Blood That Moves The Body" (June 06 1988); #4 UK
• "Touchy!" (August 15 1988); #7 UK
• "You Are The One" (November 21 1988); #10 UK
• "There's Never A Forever Thing" (1989) (only released in Brazil as a promo)
• "Crying In The Rain" (October 01 1990); #13 UK
• "I Call Your Name" (December 03 1990); #44 UK
• "Early Morning" (February 25 1991); #84 UK
• "Waiting for Her" (May 25 1991) (released only in Japan)
• "Move To Memphis" (October 14 1991); #47
• "The Blood That Moves The Body" (March 30 1992)
• "Dark Is The Night" (May 24 1993); #4 UK
• "Angel" (September 06 1993); #41 UK
• "Lie Down In Darkness" (September 09 1993) (released only in US)
• "Shapes That Go Together" (March 14 1994); #27 UK
• "Summer Moved On" (May 22 2000); #33 UK
• "Minor Earth Major Sky" (July 10 2000)
• "Velvet" (September 2000)
• "The Sun Never Shone That Day" (September 21 2000)
• "Minor Earth Major Box" (February 26 2001) (4 CD single box set of last 4 singles)
• "Forever Not Yours" (April 02 2002)
• "Lifelines" (July 08 2002); #78 UK
• "Did Anyone Approach You? (September 30 2002)
• "The Sun Always Shines On TV - live" (March 10 2003)

EPs

• "45 R.P.M. Club" (1985) (released only in Japan)
• "Twelve Inch Club" (1985) (released only in Japan)
• "Scoundrel Club" (1987) (released only in Japan)
• "Road Club" (June 1988) (released only in Japan)

Compilations

• "Best in Brazil" (1991) (released only in Brazil)
• "a-ha en Argentina" (1991) (released only in Argentina)
• "Headlines And Deadlines - The Hits Of A-ha" (1991); #12 UK
• "The Selections '85-'93" (1993) (released in Japan as a promo CD)
• "The Singles 1984-2004" (November 29, 2004)
• "The Definitive Singles Collection 1984-2004" (April 05, 2005)

Live Albums

• "On Tour In Brazil" (1989) (released only in Brazil)
• "How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head" (2003)

DVDs

• "Headlines And Deadlines - The Hits of a-ha" (1991)
• "a-ha live at Valhall - Homecoming" (2001)
• "a-ha - the videos" (2003) - only in Spain

See also

• Best selling music artists — World's top-selling music artists chart.

External link

• a-ha: The Official Site (http://www.a-ha.com)
• Cold as Stone: a-ha Fansite (http://www.cdd.ee)
• Slovak a-ha Fansite (http://www.a-ha.sk)
• Russian a-ha Fansite (http://www.a-ha.ru)
• Discography on a-ha and the Related Projects (http://www.darsu.btinternet.co.uk/discography/)de:A-ha

no:A-ha hr:A-ha nl:A-Ha sv:A-ha