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The Norwegian teen pop idols a-ha (responsible for a series of 1980s smash hits like Take On Me and The Sun Always Shines On TV) were a rare hit band from Scandinavia who survived the fall-out of their early success to make significant marks through the 1990s and 2000s. Their early relocation to London paid off big time with their first release Take On Me, a song that Mags Furuholmen and Pal Gamst first played together in their previous band, Bridges (when it was originally called The Juicy Fruit Song and then Lesson One). Promoted by an inventive animated video, the track became the second-biggest selling single of 1985 and made a-ha stars both in the UK and US; The Sun Always Shines On TV followed as they became major league pop idols. The group's style became rockier on second album Scoundrel Days but, while they remained a popular attraction, the fervour of their early success steadily dissipated, though they did have another big hit with the theme song to the James Bond movie The Living Daylights. In 1991 they won a place in the Guinness Book of Records after attracting nearly 200,000 fans to a gig in Brazil - the biggest paying audience ever - but the band drifted apart in 1994. They reunited four years later and had further hits with Forever Not Yours, Lifelines and Analogue (All I Want). However, after a major world tour, they split again in 2010 having sold over 79 million albums.
Artist biography compiled by BDS/West 10. All rights reserved
