A-ha frontman has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease. The Norwegian band shared a press release on their own website telling fans of the news and said Morten has been "battling his own body" in recent years.
It added: “This isn’t the sort of news anyone wants to deliver to the , but here it is: Morten has Parkinson’s disease.”
In his own interview on the band’s official website, Harket, 65, said he had initially kept the degenerative condition private but has now decided to tell fans.
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He said: “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. 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 spoke to the band's biographer Jan Omdahl at his home on Norway’s south coast for the announcement.
He said a few people in his immediate circle knew that he is ill, but he had held off telling more people because of the unpredictable consequences of going public with the illness.
But behind the scenes Morten has been making the most of advanced in treating Parkinson's and has been using a method called deep brain stimulation.
Morten’s neurologist in Norway is Dr. Christina Sundal at NeuroClinic Norway, and she was previously a research fellow with the Parkinson’s team at the Mayo Clinic. This is a renowned clinic in the US for medication and advanced brain surgery.
Morten underwent a neurosurgical procedure in June 2024 in which electrodes were implanted deep inside the left side of his brain. These are connected to a small pacemaker-like device placed under the skin of the upper chest that sends electrical impulses through the electrodes into the brain.
The method is called deep brain stimulation (DBS) and it is among the most advanced treatments in neurology and thankfully Morten responded well.
The procedure had the desired effect: with the right electrical impulses now reaching Morten’s brain, many of his physical symptoms practically vanished.
In December 2024 he underwent a similar procedure on the right side of his brain, which was also successful, and he is still able to drive in Norway although not everything about his body is as it was. His voice has changed with Parkinson's.
“The problems with my voice are one of many grounds for uncertainty about my creative future,” he says.
Asked if he can sing at all, he adds: “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. 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.”
Despite these comments he has been writing lyrics on an iPad and has recorded some fairly recent demos.
Asked if he had a message for fans, Morten said: “Don’t worry about me. Find out who you want to be – a process that can be new each and every day. Be good servants of nature, the very basis of our existence, and care for the environment while it is still possible to do so. Spend your energy and effort addressing real problems, and know that I am being taken care of.”
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