a-ha

a-ha is a Norwegian New Wave band who were most popular in America during the 1980s, but continued to be globally successful in the 1990s and 2000s. The trio, composed of lead vocalist Morten Harket, gui

a-ha is a Norwegian New Wave band who were most popular in America during the 1980s, but continued to be globally successful in the 1990s and 2000s. The trio, composed of lead vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist 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 comes from the title of an early song. Originally, Paul had used the word 'a-ha' as the title of a song. After checking dictionaries in several languages, they found out that 'a-ha' was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive connotations. It was short, easy to say and unusual.

The song "Take on Me" was the first thing Morten Harket heard Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy play. At that time the song was called "Lesson One". "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 music video on MTV that mimicked the climactic scene from the Ken Russell film Altered States. The video used a sketchy animation / live action combination (called "Rotoscoping", in which the video is first shot on normal video, then each frame is hand-traced over to give the animated effect.) that tells a fantasy thriller story to the song.