[bots]

A-ha frontman Morten Harket has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

The news was announced on Wednesday on the Norwegian synth-pop band's official website, external in an article written by their biographer Jan Omdahl, which also revealed the singer had already undergone brain surgery twice.

Harket, 65, said he had "no problem accepting the diagnosis", adding: "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'."

A-ha are best known for their megahit Take On Me, external, taken from their 1985 debut album Hunting High and Low, which features Harket's famous falsetto.

Omdahl, who penned the A-ha biography The Swing of Things, wrote: "You know him as A-ha's iconic frontman, a divinely gifted singer, reluctant pop star, solo artist, songwriter, eccentric thinker, father of five and a grandfather too, but in recent years Morten Harket has also been a man battling his own body.

"This isn't the sort of news anyone wants to deliver to the world, but here it is: Morten has Parkinson's disease."
He went on to note how the singer's condition had until now remained strictly private, but for a few people in his immediate circle who knew he was ill.

Omdahl also wrote about how the "unpredictable consequences" and stress of going public with the illness had led to him holding off making an announcement.

"Part of me wanted to reveal it," Harket told him. "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."

He noted: "There's so much to weigh up when you're emulating the masterful way the body handles every complex movement, or social matters and invitations, or day-to-day life in general."

According to the NHS website, Parkinson's disease, external is caused by "a loss of nerve cells in part of the brain called the substantia nigra" which leads to "a reduction in a chemical called dopamine in the brain."

Dopamine plays a vital role in regulating the movement of the body, and so symptons can include involuntary shaking, slow movement, and stiff and inflexible muscles; as well as depression and anxiety.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3v56v0wry5o