The lead singer of Norwegian band a-ha has announced he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Morten Harket sat down with band biographer Jan Omdahl and spoke about the disease.
Harket did not say when he was diagnosed, but told Omdahl, “I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis. 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,’” The New York Times reported.
Omdahl wrote that Harket has been battling illness for years, and only the people closest to him knew.
“Part of me wanted to reveal it,” Harket said, according to the BBC. “Like I said, acknowledging the diagnosis wasn’t a problem for me; it’s my need for peace and quiet to work that has been stopping me.
“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.”
Harket is taking medication for Parkinson’s and has had brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic to “soften the impact of his symptoms,” the BBC reported.
He has had electrodes implanted in both sides of his brain, in two separate procedures. It is called deep brain stimulation or DBS.
Harket is unsure if he can still sing, saying “I don’t feel like singing and for me that’s a sign.” But he said maybe in the future he would be able to.
The medication he takes affects his voice, but if he does not take it, the symptoms of the disease become evident, The New York Times reported.
He’s also been working on new lyrics but is not sure if he’ll finish it or if it will ever be released.
“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 [announcement] out of the way first,” Harket said, according to the BBC.
The band recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of its first album, “Hunting High and Low,” the record that gave fans the iconic and groundbreaking video for the song “Take on Me,” The New York Times reported. The video has more than 2.17 billion views on YouTube and features Harket breaking out of a sketched cartoon world into real life.
More than 10 million people globally have Parkinson’s disease, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. It is progressive and incurable. It attacks the central nervous system and causes tremors, muscle stiffness, loss of balance and other symptoms.
Several famous people have been diagnosed with, Parkinson’s, including Michael J. Fox, Alan Alda, Muhammad Ali, Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Connolly and Brett Favre.
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