Morten Harket, the lead singer of Norwegian synth-pop group A-ha, has announced that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Harket, 65, said he had been experiencing vocal issues due to the condition, which progressively damages the brain. He said: “The problems with my voice are one of many grounds for uncertainty about my creative future.” He said that he was currently unable to express himself with his voice: “I don’t feel like singing, and for me that’s a sign.”

Bandmate Magne Furuholmen said all future band-related activities “will of course be tuned to suit Morten’s situation”.

Harket broke the news on the A-ha website in an interview with band biographer Jan Omdahl. “I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis,” he said. “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.’”

There is no current cure for Parkinson’s. In 2024, Harket underwent neurosurgery at the Mayo clinic in the US to implant electrodes inside the left side of his brain, followed by a similar procedure on the right side in December. The devices connect to a small device, similar to a pacemaker, placed under the skin of the upper chest that stimulates the brain by sending electrical impulses through the electrodes. The procedures gave him a dramatic improvement in his symptoms.

Harket said: “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.”

Harket said that he didn’t hope to regain “full technical control” over his vocals but that he had been working on songs “that I’ve got great belief in, and I feel the lyrics, especially, have something of a different aspect of me in them.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish them for release. Time will tell if they make it. I really like the idea of just going for it, as a Parkinson’s patient and an artist, with something completely outside the box. It’s all up to me, I just have to get this out of the way first.”

He told fans that his identity wasn’t rooted in being a singer. “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.”

Furuholmen said in an Instagram post on Wednesday: “It is a day of sad news in A-ha world. Having known about Morten’s diagnosis for some time does not take the force out of the blow, nor diminish the impact it has had, and will continue have, on us – as people and as a band.”

Furuholmen stressed the band’s compassion for Harket and his family and expressed gratitude for their memories, fandom and legacy.

A-ha formed in Oslo in 1982, comprising of guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, keyboardist Furuholmen and lead singer Harket. The band has had nine Top 10 UK singles including Take on Me and You Are the One.

Harket gave concerned fans a message about how to take the news: “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.”