The synth-driven new wave trio A-ha formed in Oslo, Norway in the early 1980s out of the ashes of a local band called Bridges, which featured Paal Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furholmen. Savoy and Furholmen joined with Morten Harket in 1982 to record some demos, later showcasing their material in London clubs; the group was promptly signed to Warner Brothers, who released their debut, Hunting High and Low, in 1985. The No. 1 album (a first for any Norwegian act) went platinum on the strength of the single "Take on Me," or rather its video, whose combination of live acting and comic book-style pencil drawings made it one of the most memorable shorts of the early MTV era. The band's 1986 follow-up, Scoundrel Days, charted well in the U.K., where the group remained popular, but after recording three more albums the group called it quits in the early '90s. Savoy went on to form the New York-based rock quartet Savoy; frontman Morten Harket recently began a solo career. Interestingly, A-ha remains immensely popular in Brazil, where they headlined a festival before nearly 200,000 fans in 1991. Seven years after the release of their last studio album, Memorial Beach, the band came up with their latest effort, Minor Earth, Major Sky, released through WEA International in 2000.
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