There are some facts that could be a surprise, so get a closer look into who A-ha are and learn more about their music and the talented musicians who make up the trio.
15 things you never knew about A-ha:
- Guy Berryman of Coldplay took the photographs for the album cover of 'Foot Of The Mountain'
- In 2006 A-ha were honoured with the Q Magazine Inspiration Award, previously won by artists including U2, Joe Strummer, The Cure, New Order and David Bowie.
- A set of triplets born in the UK in the mid 80's were given the names Morten, Paul & Mags
- A-ha have the Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience: 196,000 in the Maracana football stadium, Rio De Janeiro, 1992. (George Michael, Prince and Guns N' Roses managed to gather only sixty thousand each).
- Magne is a famous artist whose paintings were used for the Norwegian stamps and his artwork is on display at the Paul Stolper gallery in London, alongside works by artists like Damien Hirst and Sir Peter Blake.
- A-ha still own a sizeable part of the Amazon rainforest as part of a 1980's reforestation/preservation scheme
- Oasis played a concert in Oslo, dedicating their song "Rock'n’Roll Star" to a-ha. In an interview with newspaper "VG", Liam Gallagher confesses he was an A-ha fan years ago and that they are "f***ing amazing".
- Noel Gallagher’s favourite A-ha single is “Train Of Thought”
- A-ha were invited to Michael Jackson’s Neverland in 1985, but turned down the invitation
- The band imported the first electric car to Norway all of 25 years ago, and through repeated acts of civil disobedience they managed to obtain rights to free parking and no tolls for all electric cars in Norway.
- They have won 8 MTV video awards, the same number of awards won by Eminem, Green Day and music video pioneer Michael Jackson.
- Robbie Williams is another artist to cover a-ha. Eloquently expressing his appreciation of the band “A-ha…they’re fucking great” he performed an acoustic version of “Hunting High And Low” onstage in November 2003
- Magne is the only member of A-ha who has ever been arrested in the UK
- In high school, Paul barely graduated due to poor attendance which led his teachers to nickname him 'The Guest'.
- During the latest Coldplay concert in Oslo, Magne & Chris Martin did an unplugged version of the A-ha classic “Hunting High And Low”.
A-ha arrive in SA next week as part of their global ‘a-ha play Hunting High And Low live’ tour. Tickets are available from https://breakoutevents.co.za/