page_title: A-ha
section_title: First comeback (1998–2007)
hierarchical_section_title: A-ha / Biography / First comeback (1998–2007)
caption_attribution_description: Morten Harket (a-ha) live at Cologne, 29th Oct. 2005
context_page_description: A-ha is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen, and Morten Harket, the band rose to fame during the mid-1980s.
  A-ha achieved their biggest success with their debut album Hunting High and Low in 1985. That album peaked at number one in their native country Norway, number 2 in the UK, and number 15 on the US Billboard album chart; yielded two international number-one singles: "Take On Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on T.V."; and earned the band a Grammy Award nomination as Best New Artist. In the UK, Hunting High and Low continued its chart success into the following year, becoming one of the best-selling albums of 1986. The band released studio albums in 1986, 1988, and 1990, with single hits including "Hunting High and Low", "The Living Daylights", "Stay on These Roads", and "Crying in the Rain". In 1994, after their fifth studio album, Memorial Beach, failed to achieve the commercial success of their previous albums, the band went on hiatus.
context_section_description: The band was invited to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 1998. Paul wrote "Summer Moved On" especially for this performance. They also performed "The Sun Always Shines on TV". This performance was A-ha's comeback into the world of music, yet the band's set was controversially omitted from a programme of highlights of that concert that was televised in the UK, and even more controversially in the US by FOX. Nevertheless, the band returned to the studio. Those recording sessions resulted in 2000's Minor Earth Major Sky, an international tour, and a webcast performance of the band opening the new Vallhall Arena in Oslo on 24 and 25 March 2001. A-ha's video for "I Wish I Cared" was one of the first fully web-based animated flash music videos to be made available. (The first was Duran Duran's flash video for the 2000 song "Someone Else Not Me".) The album reached platinum status, with sales of 1.5 million copies, and spawned four singles: "Summer Moved On", "Minor Earth Major Sky", "Velvet" and "The Sun Never Shone That Day". "Summer Moved On" went to No. 1 in 17 countries.
  A-ha made a return appearance at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2001, performing a new song, Differences, and Hunting High and Low. The subsequent album, Lifelines, was released in 2002, going platinum in Norway and producing two top 5 hits there, "Forever Not Yours" and "Lifelines". Jesper Hiro directed the video for "Lifelines", based on the short film A Year Along the Abandoned Road, which was directed by Morten Skallerud in 1991. The original short film was 12 minutes long; it shows a whole year passing by in one shot at 50,000 times the normal speed.
  A live album from their 2002 tour, titled How Can I Sleep with Your Voice in My Head, was released in March 2003, preceded by a live single of the 1986 hit "The Sun Always Shines on TV." In 2004, a book entitled "The Swing of Things" was published, which also featured a CD of early demo material. That year A-ha celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of a new singles collection, The Definitive Singles Collection 1984–2004. This compilation brought them back into the UK Top 20 Album Charts, where they reached number 13 and earned a Gold album.
  On 2 July 2005, A-ha performed at the Berlin edition of Live 8, in front of an audience of nearly 200,000 people. They began with "Hunting High and Low", followed by "Take On Me", during which Morten Harket had difficulties hearing himself when his in-ear monitor failed: he requested a two-minute break, which he used to comment on the cause of Live 8. The intended two minutes became almost seven, and the third song, "Summer Moved On," became the last of their set. Although four songs had been rehearsed, the band's time had run out and the organisers told them to leave the stage.
  On 12 September 2005, A-ha played a quickly sold-out show at Irving Plaza in New York City, the band's first concert in North America since 1986 despite not having released any material there since 1993. On 27 August 2005, the band played a concert for 120,000 people in Frogner Park in Oslo, the largest concert ever in Norway.
  On 4 November 2005, the band released its eighth studio album, Analogue. The UK release of the single "Analogue" gave A-ha their first top 10 hit in the UK since 1988. The album includes a guest appearance by Graham Nash of Crosby Stills & Nash performing backup vocals on the songs "Over the Treetops" and "Cosy Prisons". The song "Celice" became the band's ninth to go No. 1 on a major national chart, and its music video sparked criticism for its sexual content. The following tour included a gig at London's Shepherd's Bush in February 2006, along with a TV special in Africa. In 2006, A-ha recorded a cover of John Lennon's "No. 9 Dream" for Amnesty International. It was released in June 2007 on the album "Make Some Noise". On 30 October 2006 in London, A-ha received the prestigious Q Magazine Inspiration Award for their long contribution to music and for inspiring many of their younger colleagues in the business. On 15 September 2007, A-ha played a
caption: Lead vocalist Morten Harket live at Cologne, 29 October 2005
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