
A-ha front man Morten Harket diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
In a statement on the band's website, and confirmed by record label Sony Music, Harket, 65, said he had undergone several rounds of brain surgery and that he was managing the symptoms of the disease.
Parkinson's causes deterioration in the brain's nervous system, leading to tremors and other symptoms that can become progressively worse over time. The disease can be treated with surgery and medication, but there is no cure.
Harket said he last year underwent neurological procedures to have electrodes implanted inside his brain and that this had reduced the symptoms.
Known for the wide range of his voice, Harket said he did not know if he would be able to perform again.
"I've got no problem accepting the diagnosis," he said, adding that it was difficult to balance medication and managing side effects of the treatment.
"I'm trying the best I can to prevent my entire system from going into decline," Harket said.
Formed in 1982 by Harket and his friends Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen, A-ha saw a global breakthrough in 1985 with their debut album "Hunting High and Low" which yielded several hits such as "Take On Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV".
"Take On Me" was recently featured in the second season of HBO's hit series "The Last of Us" when the main character Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, performed an acoustic version of the song.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scottish Sun
8 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Erling Haaland's girlfriend Isabel Haugseng treated to ultra-rare £330,000 handbag as couple enjoy break in Rome
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ERLING HAALAND treated his stunning girlfriend Isabel Haugseng Johansen to an incredible £330,000 handbag. The Manchester City star has been relaxing with his partner in Italy over the last few weeks and they recently enjoyed a trip to Rome. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Erling Haaland has been holidaying with his girlfriend Credit: INSTAGRAM @isabellaa 6 Isabel clutched a £330,000 handbag Credit: INSTAGRAM @isabellaa 6 It is an ultra-rare piece that can only be purchased at auction Credit: INSTAGRAM @isabellaa 6 The bag is a Hermes Birkin 25 Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile. Isabel, 21, has taken to Instagram to share snaps from their trip and the brunette beauty wowed in a long orange dress in her latest post. But her designer handbag got the attention of followers as she clutched the luxurious diamond encrusted holdall. The Daily Mail report that it is an ultra-rare Hermes Birkin 25 Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile. They claim that it is worth an eye-watering £330,000. And the handbag can only be purchased at auction from authentic Hermes reseller Madison Avenue Couture. Isabel is all smiles in the photos posted on social media as she stands next to Haaland, 25, and his brother Astor and his girlfriend. The Norwegian stunner is also seen giggling on a step and posing while looking out over a picturesque lake. Isabel is a footballer herself and is said to have met Haaland while they were both in the youth academy of club Bryne. SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET £50 BONUS WHEN YOU JOIN The couple have one child, who was born back in December. Becoming parents has not slowed down their jet-setting lifestyle and they also visited Ibiza earlier this summer. Man City star Erling Haaland's girlfriend Isabel frolics in water in a bikini as pair relax on holiday Their travels have helped Isabel grow in popularity on Instagram after only launching her account in November. She now boasts a whopping 108,000 followers. Haaland is due back on the pitch on August 9 when City face Palmero in a pre-season friendly. The club's Premier League campaign kicks-off the following weekend against Wolves. 6 Isabel has 108,000 followers on Instagram Credit: INSTAGRAM @isabellaa


Scottish Sun
9 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
I bought my own Build-A-Bear machine on Amazon – it cost less than one visit to the shop and you can make multiple toys
Plus, how to buy a bear for as little as £1 BEAR WITH I bought my own Build-A-Bear machine on Amazon – it cost less than one visit to the shop and you can make multiple toys Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MANY people have a fond memory of going to Build-A-Bear as a child to make a personalised teddy bear. However, one mum shared how she found an official home kit on Amazon which meant she could make multiple bears at home with her kids. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Kristin Miller bought a Build-A-Bear Workshop stuffing kit on Amazon Credit: TikTok/kristinniclemiller 3 She was able to make bears at home with her kids Credit: TikTok/kristinniclemiller Kristin Miller bought the Build-A-Bear Workshop Toy Stuffing Station on the online retailer, where it is currently listed for £39.84. In a clip on her @kristinnicolemiller_ account, she wrote: 'My favourite kids' find ever. 'This is my new go-to gift idea for kids!! Sooo cute yall.' This home stuffing station is a mini version of the real one at Build-A-Bear Workshop, giving kids the full experience of building their own bear—all from the comfort of home. It features an easy-to-use push-pump handle that fills your bear with fluff, while the secure nozzle keeps everything in place as your cuddly companion comes to life. After adding the sweet heart inside, your bear will be created and you can dress it in the outfit that comes with the pack. There is even a birth certificate to document the arrival of your furry friend. The kit comes with two unstuffed bears, ready to make into sweet cuddly toys for your child, however you can get additional bears to stuff for £12.91 from Amazon. The price of a classic Build-A-Bear varies depending on the size and type of toy, but a classic toy costs £25, meaning you'd typically have to fork out £50 for two. The at-home kit could save you some cash, and also be a great way to keep children entertained at home on special occasions. Brits urged to 'look in loft' as 5 popular 90s toys could make you serious money Many people were hugely impressed at the kit, with one saying: 'This is the best thing ever!!! I am going there tomorrow and definitely gonna pick this up for Christmas gift for my 2 girls!!!' Another added: 'I had this growing up and have been looking for it for my kids. THANK YOU!!!' And a third commented: 'Saving this and getting it for my niece this Christmas.' 3 Each kit comes with two unstuffed bears, but you can buy extra bears on Amazon Credit: Amazon PAY YOUR AGE Build-a-Bear's "pay your age" scheme means you pay your child's age for a bear on their birthday. You can grab the discount in your birthday month and for a bear that would normally cost £14, rather than on any toy which can cost up to £50. So if your child is turning seven, then you'll only need to pay £7 for the toy. The minimum payment is £1 though so if your baby is under one-year-old then you'll still have to fork out a quid. The Pay Your Age birthday month offer is available in stores only to Build-A-Bear Bonus Club members, but it's free to enrol.


The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Kesha review – a triumphant and electric return for pop's comeback kid
'What does freedom feel like?' the singer Kesha asks in voiceover early in her sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. The 38-year-old pop star has just opened her 'Tits Out' show with TiK ToK, the sleazy, insouciant, inescapable party anthem that rocketed her to fame in 2009, cradling a model of her own head from that time – blond, dead-eyed, distinguishable as the artist formerly known as Ke$ha by one single glitter tear. She paraded the head while gamely barreling through that first indelible, now altered, lyric – 'wake up in the morning like FUCK P Diddy' – and the IDGAF brag of brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack (Daniels). Then she places it on an altar of empty glasses and candles and bows to a prayer of 'freedom from my past', how the 'truth will set you free'. If this all seems like a lot, somehow both cartoonishly blunt and muddled, hedonism strangely crossed with sanctity – well, that's Kesha, a millennial-beloved artist always on the bleeding edge of culture, for better and for worse. Once the 22-year-old from Nashville who rolled in on her gold Trans-Am and glittered-bombed the early 2010s with a ridiculous string of feral, slangy hits, then a cautionary tale stalled by a nearly decade-long legal dispute with her former producer, the artist born Kesha Rose Sebert has finally stepped into her role as a generational symbol on her own terms, much to the delight of a loyal crowd at the Garden, who hollered at every mention of the word freedom – and there were many – like it was a revelation. And it was – for years, Kesha represented not only the bombast, disillusionment and debauchery of youth fucked over by the 2008 financial crash, with attitude so fierce and undeniable it could make diabolical lyrics such as 'don't be a little bitch with your chit chat / just show me where your dick's at' winsome, but also the dark side of the predacious music industry. In 2014, she sued to be released from her contract with producer Łukasz 'Dr Luke' Gottwald, who convinced her to move to Los Angeles at 17, for alleged drugging, sexual assault and emotional manipulation; a protracted legal battle forced her to continue working for him, her music still released under his imprint if not with his input, until last year. . (pronounced Period), her album released this month, is her first output truly independent of Dr Luke. So you can't begrudge Kesha some pointed and grandiose words on liberation, nor for remixing the production of some of her most recognizable hits – Blow, Die Young, Timber – into something a little smoother, more mature, more her. 'I've had these songs taken from me and I want you to help me take them back tonight,' she proclaims during Act I of four murkily defined sections, before she laps the floor to a medley of tracks from Animal and Warrior in a shocking reminder of just how deep her cuts go. The choreography may be pop standard (sharp and suggestive but cold-blooded), the backing track sustaining the more vigorous dance numbers, the more conceptual moments (a straitjacket, dancers in kitty-cat mascot suits) a little too belabored, but it doesn't matter. As a statement of legacy – her auto-tuned recklessness a clear antecedent of today's Brat-green pop landscape – and as an act of reclamation, the Tits Out tour is a triumph. It's also extremely fun, Kesha's grip on the pulse of a hot banger as tight as her stage banter is loose and breezy. As with her recession pop peer Lady Gaga's Mayhem Ball, the new dance tracks flow seamlessly with the old. Red Flag, a punchy ode to being magnetized for all the wrong reasons, bends smoothly into the cheerleader taunt of Dinosaur. ('D-I-N-O-S-A, U-R a dinosaur!' remains one of Kesha's most deranged and stupidly catchy lyrics). Period's Delusional morphs so easily into the girl-on-girl punches of Backstabber that I thought it was one song. New track Attention! finds Kesha in the pocket of the mode she pioneered – taunting, headstrong, teetering on obnoxious – straight into a sick repetition of 'I'm a bitch!' with a 2010s bass so sticky it basically spells out LMFAO. No one could be still. Except, briefly, Kesha herself, when she paused on multiple occasions to celebrate her freedom with kiss-offs ('hey, look how much money you made off of me!') that would feel overdone if they weren't so hard-earned. At one point, when she mentioned being in 'year eight of litigation' ahead of the self-love track The One., I gasped – her onstage persona is so buoyant, it's easy to forget the slog. She drove the point into the stratosphere with a victorious encore; a note-perfect performance of Praying, her typically on-the-nose #MeToo ballad fantasizing a perpetrator's recognition, her voice honeyed and soaring, led to a five-plus-minute standing ovation. She let her tears flow; I shed a tear too, for a moment more raw than anything I've seen at a pop show in recent memory. 'This love is not only for me, it's for anyone who survived something they never should've had to survive,' she said. And then it's back to business, with early tracks Your Love Is My Drug and We R Who We R, and one final, perfect, very Kesha farewell: 'Have a good night!' she said with that cheeky giggle. 'And I hope … you all … get laid.'